China Southern Airlines has inaugurated a service to Dubai in the United Arab of Emirates from Guangzhou's Baiyun International Airport.

The airline also announced the opening of eight international routes from Guangzhou to Rangoon, Burma from July 9; to Phuket, Thailand from July 10; to Siem Reap, Cambodia from July 11; to Vientiane, Laos from July 12; to New Delhi from September 9 and to Japan at Sendai and Sapporo from October 28. Applications for flight from Guangzhou to Luanda, Angola, are being processed.

China Southern will operate the Guangzhou-Dubai service thrice weekly, using its wide-body jet Boeing 777B with a one-way flight time of nine hours. Outbound flights, CZ383, depart Guangzhou at 2010 hrs Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, arriving at Dubai at 0110 hrs the next day. Returning CZ384 flights depart at 0250 hrs Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, arriving at Guangzhou at 1450 hrs.

This is the carrier's second Guangzhou-based international flight, the first having been launched in February to Kathmandu, Nepal.

The airline said international routes from Guangzhou will nearly double from the current 18 to 26 with frequencies rising to 182 from today's 136 - an increase of more than 30 per cent.