Route: Shenzhen Boa’an Airport to Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airport

Departure date and time of flight: 11.50am, May 2015

Flight number: ZH9963 (ICAO callsign: “Shenzhen Air 9963”)

Flight duration: 2 Hours 10 minutes

Class: FIRST CLASS

Aircraft type: AIRBUS A320-232 (70 in service)
 
Aircraft registration: B-1841 (First flight 26th May 2014)
 
Aircraft Serial Number: 5986
 
Seat configuration for this aircraft:
 
First Class: 8 seats in a 2-2 configuration on the main deck
Economy Class: 150 seats in a 3-3 configuration
 
Comments on check-in:

Located 32 kilometres in the northwest of Shenzhen, Boa’an International Airport is one of the largest airports in the world, however not busy because the majority of flights are domestic (you can fly to Mauritius with China Southern and a few other exotic destinations, mostly on charter flights). In 2014, the airport handled over 36.2 million passengers; the airport is able to accommodate the largest aircraft in the world, the Airbus A380.
 
The first thing you notice as you enter the terminal is how huge it is. It makes Terminal 5 at London Heathrow Airport look like a miniature model toy kit.
 
There were no issues regarding the baggage. Passengers travelling First Class with Shenzhen Airlines are allowed a generous 40kg free of charge, and 30 kg (66 lbs) for Business Class. For domestic flights, each piece of checked baggage must not exceed 50 kg (110 lbs). Shenzhen Airlines has a separate dedicated check-in, and a separate security customs from all the other airlines at Shenzhen Bao’an Airport.
 
LOUNGE EXPERIENCE at Shenzhen Airport:
 
Shenzhen Airlines have their own premium lounges dotted around the airport, after security. The lounge can be used by Business and First Class passengers, as well as silver and gold members of the Shenzhen Airlines loyalty program. The lounge has sufficient space for buffet food (Chinese only), comfortable relaxing chairs, electric massage chairs, and a small cinema (25 seats maximum). There are also shower facilities available in all the lounges. There are many options for hot and cold Chinese food and Western food.
 
Punctuality of the flight:
 
Departed on time, and landed on time at Hangzhou. Shenzhen Bao’an Airport was not as busy as I would have imagined. Understandably, Shenzhen is not really a touristy city (it is for work), and the added fact that Hong Kong Airport is just a stone’s throw away – on a clear day you can easily see planes taking off and landing at Hong Kong Airport from Shenzhen.
 
Comments regarding the pre-flight service:
 
Hot and cold towels were offered prior to departure in the First Class cabin. First Class passengers are offered a selection of drinks including champagne, apple juice, orange juice and a variety of teas (Chinese and Western). The cabin crew took the orders for the lunch service from all the passengers in the First Class cabin prior to departure.

Comments regarding the pre-meal service:
 
The meal service commended with air hostesses handing out hot towels. A selection of fine nuts was offered along with a choice of drink (orange juice, apple juice, and a selection of teas).
 
Comments regarding the main meal:

There were two options for the main hot dish meal:

• Dimsum
• Beef with rice

 
I opted for the traditional Cantonese Dimsum, and vegetables. The Dimsum came with a dumplings (both pork dumplings and noodles). There was also a small plate of creaser salad with seasoning sauce, and a bowl of fresh fruit salad.
 
It was also a nice thing to see a warm cheesecake being served with the main meal.
 
Delicious soft and hard bread rolls were offered from the basket (including garlic bread!). All meals were served on fine bone china, and came with Shenzhen Airlines chopsticks, and Shenzhen Airlines branded stainless steel cutlery.
 
Comments regarding the after meal drinks and in-flight snacks:

Hot and cold drinks were served after the main meal. These included Chinese and Western tea options, as well as soft drinks.
 
Comments on the in-flight entertainment system:

This Shenzhen Airlines Airbus A320-200 aircraft has no individual TV screens (not even in First Class), only the small screens that pop out for the pre take-off safety video.
 
Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

The cabin crew were very professional and friendly. Most of the cabin crew for Shenzhen Airlines are natives of the Guangdong Region in China (this is especially true for the cabin crew in First Class or Business Class cabins). The airline management is very particular on how their cabin crew staff should be like. They have to be of a certain weight, and height, and must be acquainted to beauty with a smile (this is what I was informed!). Most of the cabin crew do speak good English (especially those in Business/First Class).  

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 
 
The First Class seats have 58-inch pitch and 20-inch width. The Economy Class seats have a 32-inch pitch, and an 18 inch width. First Class seats feature a reclining angle of 170 degrees. For such a short domestic flight, passengers were offered a pair of luxury cotton slippers, and a thick cotton blanket. The cabin had a pleasant smell, and was very clean. All of the eight seats in the First Class section are covered with a luxury red clothing that comes embedded with the company logo. It creates a sense of comfort, elegance, and belonging to the Chinese culture. It also gives a very warm, fresh, spacious, modern, and touching feeling when you enter the cabin.
 
Shenzhen Airlines have improved quite a lot on most aspects of their aircraft interior. This includes the aircraft seating, the smell of the interior cabin, the cleanliness of the aircraft toilets, and the general positive attitude of the cabin crewmembers. The aircraft which we flew was the latest new aircraft for Shenzhen Airlines.
 
Shenzhen Airlines logo and livery: 
 
The back part of the livery is red, with the front half white. Shenzhen Airlines have recently made a change to make the red area longer, which works well in theory, but in practice it has caused problems with being able to read their titles. The paint scheme puts the airline’s name partially on the white, but also partially on the red and gold striping.
 
The tail sports the “National Roc.” According to the airline’s website this is “the totem aggregating the traditional and modern Chinese cultures. The design is harmonious and the colors of red and gold are gloriously lined with one on the other, agglomerating the soul of the oriental culture. Tallness and straightness, fullness of vitality, are the reflection of progress and prompt response.”
 
I remember when I first arrived in China in 2002, Shenzhen Airlines had a livery consisting of a green tail-fin with an arrow inside a white circle.
 
Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best): 10

_ Route: Guangzhou Baiyun Airport to Wuxi Sunan Shuofang International Airport (苏南硕放国际机场)

Departure date and time of flight: 19.30pm in January 2012

Flight Number: ZH9552

Flight duration: 2 hours 10 minutes

Class: Economy Class

Aircraft type: Boeing 737-800NG

With a length of 39.5 m (129.5 ft) and a wingspan of 35.7 m (117 ft), the Boeing B737-800 is capable of a cruising speed of 514 mph/828 km/h. Its maximum range is 5,665 km (3,540 mi), while the maximum speed is 544 mph/876 km/h. The service ceiling of this aircraft is 41,000 ft (12,500 m).

Punctuality of the flight:

The flight departed on time and landed on time.

Any baggage issues:

No issues- the bags arrived on time and in one piece.

Comments on the check-in staff and any issues:

No check in issues. Everything went perfectly smoothly at Guangzhou Baiyun airport. Shenzhen Airlines uses Gates A for departures at Guangzhou Baiyun Airport.   

Comments regarding the pre-meal service:

Just drinks (non-alcoholic), and including tea and coffee.  

Comments regarding the first meal:

For this two hour flight, Shenzhen Airlines provided a hot meal. The meal service started around 20 minutes after take-off from Wuxi airport. There were two options for the hot meal dish:

·         Beef with noodles
·         Chicken with rice

I went for the chicken with rice. It wasn’t of a bad taste for an airline meal, The chicken meat looked more like minced lamb, and was chewy yet soft to the tongue. The rice were well steamed just to the right texture. All in all it was a nice Chinese meal to have at 38,000 feet.

Accompanying the chicken and rice were the following snacks:

1.     One small peanut flavoured biscuit.
2.     Preserved pickle to be served with the rice with chicken.

Comments regarding the drinks service: 


A second round of drinks were offered after the meal. No alcohol, but plenty of milk, coffee and tea.

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any): None

Comments regarding the second meal (if any): None

Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

Screens came down from the ceiling after take-off. But there was nothing special except the safety video, and a short Chinese kung fu video which stopped playing after around 30 minutes.

Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

The cabin crew seemed proud to work for Shenzhen Airlines  and were very welcoming. Just a normal flight, without any incidents.

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 

The 737-800 plane had a seat configuration of 3-3 in Economy Class and 2-2 in Business Class. The plane was clean and the toilets were clean too.

Economy Class seats have a pitch of 31 inches, and a width of 18 inches (159 seats)
Business Class seats have a pitch of 40 inches, and a width of 21 inches (8 seats).

Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best): 10

Route: Wuxi Sunan Shuofang International Airport (苏南硕放国际机场)to Guangzhou Baiyun Airport

Departure date and time of flight: 17:00pm on the 28th September 2011

Flight Number: ZH9551

Flight duration: 2 hours 10 minutes

Class: Economy Class

Aircraft type: Boeing 737-800NG

With a length of 39.5 m (129.5 ft) and a wingspan of 35.7 m (117 ft), the Boeing B737-800 is capable of a cruising speed of 514 mph/828 km/h. Its maximum range is 5,665 km (3,540 mi), while the maximum speed is 544 mph/876 km/h. The service ceiling of this aircraft is 41,000 ft (12,500 m).

Punctuality of the flight:

The flight departed on time and landed on time.

Any baggage issues:

No issues- the bags arrived on time and in one piece.

Comments on the check-in staff and any issues:

No check in issues. Everything went perfectly smoothly at Wuxi airport. Shenzhen Airlines have 6 specified check-in desks allocated for their airline. There are also specific desks for China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, and Air China.

I was surprised to see that during the afternoon I was there, within around an hour about 15 AWACS surveillance aircraft belonging to the Chinese Air Force landed at the airport (they were mostly Russian made IL-76/Antonov aircraft). Later I found out that the Chinese Air Force use Wuxi airport as a training field, as well as a base for surveillance aircraft that do sorties over the South China Sea, Taiwan, Korean, and around the Hong Kong peninsula.

Wuxi is a beautiful and small airport located only 14 miles from Suzhou, and is equipped with excellent western style facilities for passengers. It is after all an international airport that serves the two main cities of Suzhou and Wuxi. Passengers can fly to far away destinations such as Japan, Korea, and all over China.

I got the shuttle minibus from Suzhou Conference Centre. It costs 15RMB per person and takes around 40 minutes. Although early bookings are not required, it is recommended that you arrive early to the Suzhou Conference Centre as there are limited seats available on the minibus. The airport’s only runway 21/03 is 3,200 meters by 50 meters (10,499 × 164 ft), and can handle aircraft up to the size of a Boeing 767/757. But most of the aircraft are of the size of a Boeing 737-900, and Airbus A321. The airport was built in 1955 for military use, and commercial flights only started in 2004 hence why so many military aircraft can be seen here). 

Comments regarding the pre-meal service:

Just drinks (non-alcoholic), and including tea and coffee.  

Comments regarding the first meal:

For this two hour flight, Shenzhen Airlines provided a hot meal. The meal service started around 20 minutes after take-off from Wuxi airport. There were two options for the hot meal dish:

·         Pork with rice
·         Chicken with rice

I went for the pork with rice. It wasn’t of a bad taste for an airline meal, The chicken meat was soft to the tongue and the rice were well steamed just to the right texture. All in all it was a nice Chinese meal to have at 38,000 feet.

Accompanying the chicken and rice were the following snacks:

1.     Half cut walnuts covered in sugar and chocolate.
2.     Preserved pickle to be served with the rice with chicken. 

Its only recently that Chinese airline companies have started to give out the pickle with airline meals in order to make the food more delicious. But on the whole one thing people never notice is that airline meals are prepared almost twice as fast as a ‘fast-food’ chain restaurant. So the overall quality of ANY airline meal is not that good. All the food is freeze dried inside the fuselage belly, and heated in a microwave just prior to being served. 

Comments regarding the drinks service:

A second round of drinks were offered after the meal. No alcohol, but plenty of milk, coffee and tea.

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any):

None

Comments regarding the second meal (if any):

None

Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

Screens came down from the ceiling after take-off.

Comments of professionalism of the cabin crew:

The cabin crew seemed proud to work for Shenzhen Airlines  and were very welcoming. Just a normal flight, without any incidents.

Improvements that could be made:

The food was not bad for a 2 hour flight. Ever since the Shenzhen Universaide that happened in Shenzhen in August 2011, standards in in-flight catering have improved drastically in Chinese airline companies.

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort): 

The 737-800 plane had a seat configuration of 3-3 with Economy Class seats, and a 2-2 configuration with Business Class seats. The plane was clean and the toilets were clean too.

Economy Class seats have a pitch of 31 inches, and a width of 18 inches (159 seats)
Business Class seats have a pitch of 40 inches, and a width of 21 inches (8 seats).

Overall rating 1-10 (worst-best): 10

Route: Shenzhen Baoan airport to Shanghai Pudong airport

Departure date and time of flight: 09:35am on the 12th April

Flight Number: ZH9811

Flight duration: 4 hours and 5 minutes

Class: ECONOMY CLASS

Aircraft type: Boeing 737-900

Punctuality of the flight:

The passengers boarded the flight on time (at around 9:00am), and all seemed to be fine until the actual time of departure came around when instead of taxing to the runway, the plane was still sitting on the tarmac. It was around about 10:00am (approximately 25 minutes after the scheduled time of departure), that the passengers were provided their in-flight meal while the plane was still on the ground. Quite understandably, this seemed to cause a few frustrations among some of the passengers who demanded to know why the plane was delayed and why we were being served our in-flight meal while we were on the ground.

The plane eventually took-off at 11.35am (exactly two hours after the scheduled flight time), and we arrived at around 13:25pm. There was no formal explanation given as to why we were delayed. I don’t suspect that the weather was a problem because it was nice, sunny and clear when we landed in Shanghai Pudong airport.

With the 2 hour delay, the one and a half hour flight turned into a 4 hour flight.

Any baggage issues:

No issues- the bags arrived on time and in one piece.

Comments on the check-in staff and any issues:

Check-in at Shenzhen Airport was easy and very efficient.

Comments regarding the pre-meal service:

None.

Comments regarding the first meal:

As mentioned that the passengers were offered their in-flight meal while the plane was still on the ground. I, however, opted to wait and have the in-flight meal while we were in the air.

Comments regarding the drinks service:

None

Comments regarding the in-flight snacks (if any):

None

Comments regarding the second meal (if any):

None

Comments on the in-flight system (if any):

None

Comments of professionalism of the cabin-crew:

Most people around the world would probably have never heard of Shenzhen Airlines because its only concentrated in the Chinese domestic market with some international routes being operated in the Asian region (Japan and Korea for example). Like the vast majority of airlines in the Chinese domestic market Shenzhen Airlines is an upcoming airline that is striving to achieve its best when it comes to providing excellent customer service. 

The airline has made a lot of effort to bring out the best in its crew. However, the most important challenge for an airline like Shenzhen Airlines is to get cabin-crew that can speak good enough English, and cabin crew that are polite and courteous to their passengers; the latter being more important when dealing with difficult situations like a flight delay etc. Unfortunately, it goes without saying that for the vast majority of the flights the cabin-crew has a very limited knowledge of English, and tend to be somewhat arrogant and rude. One of the reasons for this is perhaps that being an air hostess in China is actually seen as a glamorous job. However, some may disagree with this statement altogether.

Another issue I have noticed on many flights is that if there is a problem (i.e. such as a delay etc.), the cabin crew tend not to interact much with the passengers. This means that instead of relaxing and calming the situation down by offering drinks or by walking around the cabin and making sure no one has any problems, the cabin-crew tend to just sit, close the curtain to the galley and just indulge in chatting to each other. I am not sure whether this is a way to shy away from the situation and make everything look smooth as if nothing bad has happened.

Improvements that could be made:

Passengers could be better informed in the event of a delay, and also there was no vegetarian option for the in-flight meal despite me ordering it in advance. But this is a common problem when flying domestically. For some unknown reason the chefs cannot produce a vegetarian option meal (or perhaps they are not told to do so!).

Comments on the interior of the aircraft (including seat comfort):

Shenzhen Airlines have a 3-3 configuration on their Boeing 737-900 aircraft for Economy Class and a 2-2 configuration for their Business Class cabin.