China Southern Plans New Flagship Interiors, IFE/C for A350, A321neo

China Southern will update its cabin interiors as part of a brand refresh coming to the A350 and A321 fleets. Developed by the carrier’s in-house Future Cabin Studio and London-based Tangerine, the new layouts are expected to join the fleet from 2027, offering updates from nose-to-tail.

Sean Cui, Head, Future Cabin Studio, China Southern Airlines, describes the new cabin experience as “combining a sense  of style, technology, and a distinctive brand character.” Similarly, Tangerine design director Weiwei He suggests the new cabin “reflects the contemporary aesthetic, cultural heritage, and brand spirit.”

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China Southern A350s Add Premium, Swap Suppliers

The A350s will fly with 4 Business Plus Suites at the front of the cabin, along with 24 regular business class suites. These appear to be based on the Thompson Aerospace VantageXL⁺ line of seats. Its existing A350s fly with Recaro‘s business class seats, so this represents a shift in provider up front.

Interestingly, the four “Plus” seats appear to have a bulkhead separating them from the regular business class cabin. Typically airlines choosing to deliver a premium row in business class do so without the physical separation, taking optimal advantage of the space. The bulkhead behind the row could be an artifact of the rendering process, but it appears in multiple views, suggesting it is truly a differentiated service offering.

The Business Plus suites also show off extra large IFE screens in the renderings, along with a buddy dining setup in the ottoman space.

Regular business class seats have regular (but still large) IFE screens, even in the bulkhead row, based on the renderings.

The video released by airline also shows privacy doors throughout the business class cabin on China Southern’s new flagship A350 layout, both in the Plusand regular sections.

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Economy class will fly with 307 seats on board, also including 4k HD IFE screens. These appear to still be Recaro seats, comparable to the existing fleet.

The 28(4)/307 layout matches the most recent ten A350s delivered; the prior ten included premium economy seats as well (28/24/262). It seems the carrier is no longer willing to give up the extra 21 seats on board for the chance to sell the higher yielding premium economy cabin.

WiFi on China Southern’s A350s via Airbus HBCplus, Open Orbits

The carrier will also add high-speed inflight internet service to the A350 fleet via the Airbus HBCplus program. The connectivity portion of the news covers the 20 existing A350s in the fleet plus ten line-fit deliveries. It is unclear if the new cabins will fly only on the 10 new deliveries or if the airline will retrofit the existing 20 as well. The existing planes are rather new – the oldest joined the fleet just 6.5 years ago – so a retrofit would be somewhat surprising.

Airbus shares that connectivity will be provided by AeroSat Link (ASL), subsidiary of China Satcom Group, “thanks to the cooperation with an existing Airbus-approved Managed internet Service Provider (MSP).” That is almost certainly a reference to SES’s Open Orbits program, which allows smaller companies to deliver global inflight internet services, with SES managing the Airbus relationship and ensuring compatibility across satellite networks.

As with other HBCplus implementations, China Southern will see ThinKom‘s Ka2517 antenna installed, with integration provided by Safran Passenger Innovations.

IFE will be provided by Safran Passenger Innovations as well. That deal was announced in July 2025.

Panasonic Avionics is the supplier for both internet and entertainment on the existing fleet. The new layout represents a shift here as well as with the premium seat supplier.

China Southern A321neo Adds Lie-Flats

The carrier’s single-aisle fleet will also see an update with the new A321neo Flagship configuration.

The A321neo will fly with 12 flat bed seats in the premium cabin, arranged in a 2-2 layout. Collins Aerospace‘s (nee B/E Aerospace) Diamond appears to be the seating model of choice.

Economy class will fly with 171 seats in a typical 3-3 layout. All seats will offer 4K HD IFE screens, similar to the A350s.

 These would appear to be seats from Jiatai based on the slide showing all the partners involved in the new layouts.

The carrier also highlights premium galley options, including an espresso maker and wine fridge among the bits selected. It is unclear if these will fly only on the A350 or on both types.