San Francisco, CA—Mayor Edwin M. Lee today announced that China Southern Airlines will begin the first-ever nonstop service between San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (CAN) on June 22, 2015.

“San Francisco is happy to welcome the first nonstop flights between San Francisco and Guangzhou, evidence of the growing economic and cultural connection between the Guangdong Province and the San Francisco Bay Area,” said Mayor Lee. “I am grateful to China Southern CEO Mr. Tan Wangeng and his team for the vision they demonstrated during our meeting in China, and for their commitment to making this new nonstop service a reality.

“SFO serves more cities in China than any other US airport, and new nonstop service to Guangzhou reinforces our Airport as the premier gateway to the People’s Republic of China,” said SFO Airport Director John L. Martin.

This announcement represents the culmination of Mayor Lee’s economic trade mission to China in March 2013, which included a meeting with China Southern CEO Tan Wangeng and his executive team to explore the possibility of nonstop service between San Francisco and Guangzhou. Mayor Lee himself traces his heritage to the Guangdong Province, which will be served by these new flights.

China Southern will operate 4 times a week nonstop flights, using the advanced Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the first aircraft to be constructed primarily of composite materials to achieve industry-leading fuel efficiency. The aircraft features a three-class cabin, with 4 First Class seats, 24 Business Class seats, and 200 Economy Class seats.

These new China Southern flights will join the 3 non-stop flights a week launched to Wuhan, with continuing service to Guangzhou, creating a daily direct service schedule. China Southern China Southern Airlines first launched service at SFO in December 2014, with nonstop service to Wuhan, in the Hubei Province.

China Southern is the third largest airline in the world by passengers carried, and is the largest airline in Asia by fleet size. The airline is a member of the SkyTeam airline alliance, which includes Air France, Delta Airlines, and KLM. In 2011, China Southern was awarded Four-Star status by SkyTrax, an independent international agency that monitors the aviation industry and whose aviation benchmarking surveys are considered among the most reliable in the world.

On September 3, 2014, SFO launched www.flySFO.cn, the first the first dedicated Chinese-language airport website in the United States, offering navigation in Simplified Chinese.