China Southern Airlines' Fan Flight Leads Domestic Aviation in FREESTYLE

On September 12, the China Southern Airlines eTrip Fan Flight—operated by fans and organized by China Southern, from Guangzhou to Langkawi (CZ6047)—took off. This was also the first fan flight in China’s civil aviation industry.

What Are the Fun Features of a Fan Flight?

“Head to Langkawi with Interesting People” — themed around this idea, the E-commerce Department packaged Guangzhou–Langkawi flights, hotel stays, and special experiences on the fan flight, which received an enthusiastic response. In less than 24 hours, all 100 seats were sold out.

 

To enhance the social aspect of the fan flight, this flight pioneered social seating, allowing passengers to view fellow travelers’ social information when selecting their cabin seats. Whether someone has great photography skills, is a walking food expert, or shares your interests, you can choose to sit next to them. After successfully selecting their seats, almost everyone took screenshots and posted them on social media, exclaiming, “So fun!! So unique!! Can’t wait for this flight!”

The interior of the fan flight will also be specially decorated to make the journey more enjoyable. The cabin crew will deliver custom announcements, and during the 3-hour-and-40-minute flight, fans will witness a special high-altitude launch event. This will include exclusive early reveals about the fourth-quarter Travel Creators Series recruitment campaign, travel stories shared by various travel influencers, as well as opportunities for close interaction with flight attendants and pilots—with chances to win lovely gifts.

Upon arriving in Langkawi, island enthusiasts will experience a variety of island activities, offering audiences a 360-degree take on Langkawi. Additionally, China Southern Media’s Discovery Team will provide full coverage and live streaming. At the same time, China Southern has also invited fans to contribute travel guides — “Passengers on the fan flight are all adventurous and especially good at having fun. There are so many ways to enjoy Langkawi, and we believe they’ll have an even more exciting and interesting time. After the trip, the travel experiences written by fans will also serve as the basis for our future recommendations of this route.”

Social Platform for Travel Companions

The sales experience of this fan flight is also an attempt to explore new sales channels. In addition to traditional online and offline sales methods, leveraging fan influence to boost awareness of new routes and increase flight occupancy rates has become possible.

Moreover, the fan flight lays a solid foundation for China Southern’s future “Social Platform for Travel Companions” initiative. The fan seating selection this time is just a small-scale trial for fan routes. Later, the launch of the “Social Platform for Travel Companions” will allow co-travelers to not only find each other before the flight but also plan trips together.

The fan flight on September 12 has arrived in Langkawi. The onboard activities were warmly welcomed by passengers. The “Fan Flight” event is just the beginning of innovative marketing. Moving forward, China Southern eTrip will create better and more fun ways to travel in more areas.