Today, China Southern Airlines and Boeing finalized an order consisting of 12 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners. At current list prices, the order is valued at $3.2 billion USD.

The 787 Dreamliners have helped us to achieve initial success in implementing our internationalization strategy in the past few years and enabled us to make our operation and services more appealing to passengers.

– Tan Wangeng, China Southern Airlines CEO

China Southern, the launch customer of the 787 in China, operates 10 787-8 aircraft. The airline used the 787 aircraft to launch six non-stop global routes, connecting to destinations around the world.

The Boeing 787-9 is the largest aircraft of the fuel-efficient 787 family; the fuselage is extended by 20 feet compared to the -8 variant and can fly more passengers and cargo farther with the same performance of 20% less fuel use and 20% lower emissions.

China Southern Airlines is China’s largest airline by fleet size. The airline currently operates 700 aircraft, including Boeing 787, 777, 757, 747, and 737s. China Southern expects to have a fleet of 1,000 aircraft by 2020.