China Southern Airlines (CZ) signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Dalian Airport (DLC) as part of a plan to enhance its position in the Dalian market in northeastern China and compete with Air China (CA).

Under the agreement, the Guangzhou-based carrier plans to boost its passenger traffic by 15% at DLC over the next five years by opening more domestic routes from DLC to Guilin, Nanning, Xining and Baotou. It also plans to boost frequencies from DLC to Taipei.

In the next three years, it will add four more routes from DLC to Japan and three more destinations in Russia. It will also boost frequencies on the DLC-Osaka route and DLC-Tokyo route.

CZ also plans to add two to four more international destinations through connecting flights from Guangzhou and Beijing (PEK) to Europe, US, Australia and some Southeast Asian countries.

CZ currently dominates the Dalian market with a 40% share.

Earlier this month, CA launched a Dalian Airlines subsidiary that will launch scheduled services this year (ATW Daily News, Aug. 9). Initially it will operate three Boeing 737-800s on domestic routes from DLC to PEK, Shanghai and Shenzhen. It plans to expand its fleet to five aircraft in the first half of 2012 and eventually open international routes to Japan and South Korea.