By Xin Dingding (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-06-04 07:55

China Southern Airlines has announced it will suspend eight international flights from Guangzhou to Southeast Asia countries this month, the Nanfang Daily reported yesterday.

The flights involve Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, Vietnam; Angkor, Cambodia; and Phuket, Thailand.

They are expected resume in October.

The airline will also adjust 14 other international flights that connect Guangzhou with 11 destinations including Los Angeles, Paris, Sydney and Singapore. The flight schedules will be changed or reduced, the report said.

China Southern told travel agencies the changes were due to an adjustment in transport capacity.

But insiders said cost reduction was more likely to be the prime reason.

An insider, who declined to give his name, said the price of aviation fuel had increased 5 percent recently, imposing a heavy burden on domestic carriers.

As flights to Southeast Asian countries show the slimmest profit margins among all international flights, it was only normal for China Southern to sacrifice that part of its market, he said.

The changes are not likely to affect local outbound tourism. Lao Yibo, a marketing manager with China International Travel Service, said tour groups to Southeast Asia will take flights via Hong Kong or Macao.