Review of China Southern flight from Jieyang to Linyi in Economy

The pioneer of china

Hey guys and welcome to another Flight Report!

This is FR number 2 from my recent trip around Asia and will cover a domestic flight in China… between 2 cities I've never heard of. Today we'll be flying from Jieyang (揭阳) in Guangdong to Linyi (临沂) in Shandong. Believe it or not, there's actually a method to my madness. If you've read my last FR you'd know that I flew into Hong Kong (specifically for the A346) before crossing the border to Shenzhen. This means that I now have to cross most of China to reach my family in Jinan (济南), the capital of Shandong province. Conveniently, this flight allows me to cover most of that distance while also ticking off another aircraft on my bucket list: the Comac ARJ21.

While the Comac C919 have garnered a lot of attention recently (having just entered service), another lesser known aircraft by the company have already been in service for a few years. The ARJ21 is a regional jet resembling the MD-80/MD-90 that entered service with Chengdu Airlines in June 2016. I've never flown the MD-80 or -90 so I'm really curious on what it's like (and how the aircraft compares to its western competitors).  

From 2023, I aim to offset all of my CO2 emission from flights. All emissions are calculated using the ICAO Carbon Emissions Calculator and I will be funding projects approved by The Gold Standard. The CO2 output for this trip is:
 
SWA-LYI: 119kg
Total for 2023 (so far): 2662kg

Jieyang Chaoshan International Airport (SWA)

Having started my day in Shenzhen, I had to take the train to Jieyang.

Jieyang railway station.

Like for a lot of smaller airports in China, there's no public transportation going to the airport (apart from a railway station with ~2 trains a day from Shenzhen). This meant that I had to get a taxi, which was an absolute pain from the station as there weren't any available. But anyway, after 2 hours of struggling (which involved downloading a ton of random Chinese taxi/map apps), we're finally approaching the airport.

At least taxi fares in China are very cheap (compared to North America and Europe). A 50 minute ride to the airport only costed me CN¥100 (~€12) including motorway tolls.

The drop off area outside the airport.

As usual for China, there's a mini-security check at the entrance and here's the check-in area right after.

Departures for the day. Our flight (CZ8655) is second to last on the bottom screen.

Check-in took only 5 minutes as the desks for China Southern is separate from the rest. Security was also fairly efficient, taking just under 10 minutes. One thing to note is that the vast majority of staff don't speak any English (as expected for a small airports in China) which is gonna be a challenge for foreigners (I had to help translate for a guy visiting from Germany). 
 
The area right after security, there are some (minor) construction going on around the airport.

As this is the domestic terminal (believe it or not, there's actually a tiny international section with 5 weekly flights to Kuala Lumpur) there's no duty free, however there are a very limited number of restaurants and shops.

View of the apron outside. One of the best thing about aviation in China is the sheer number of regional airlines around (imagine an airline for every state and even some cities in the US) and that's the kind of variety you'll see around the country.

Some more photos of the terminal. I forgot to mention that this is a relatively new airport (opened in 2011) that replaced the old airport in Shantou so everything is very nice and modern.

Another view of the apron with 2 China Southern ARJ21s in the distance. Jieyang is actually a fairly large base for China Southern's ARJ fleet, which is why I went all the way over here from Shenzhen.

Sadly not a whole lot of action around but here's an Air Guilin A320 (B-8663) heading to Guiyang (贵阳), the capital of Guizhou (贵州) province.

A little while before boarding, I decided to go to the toilet, which was one of the most disgusting toilets I've seen. I didn't take a photo (to preserve everyone's stomachs), but it consisted largely of squat toilets (if you know… you know) and the entire place was flooded with water with no sign of a cleaner around. A stark contrast to the rest of the airport (which was very clean and tidy).

Anyway, now traumatized, I decided to head down to the bus gates as our plane is parked on the remote stand I pictured earlier.

the flight

Flight time today will be around 2 hours and here's our route for today.

Boarding started on time and here's our plane parked on a remote stand.

Some info about our plane:

Type: Comac ARJ21-700
Registration: B-91A1
Age: ~0.5 years
Config: Y90

A brand new ARJ21 delivered in March 2023, she was built in Shanghai and is powered by two General Electric CF34 turbofan engines.

The seats on this brand new plane.

Photo of the tray table.

The legroom - pretty good for a regional jet.

There are also USB ports under the seats which aren't that common on regional jets in China.

Shortly after takeoff, the crew came around with blankets as the A/C was set to a really low temperature.

First views out of the wing.

Pushback started on time…

… and a short while later, we're in the air! 

Nice views of Jieyang right after takeoff.

According to the captain, there were some thunderstorms along the route. In China, civillian aircraft have to fly along designated paths (as most of the airspace isn't open to civillian traffic). This means that it's often not possible to avoid storms by flying around it (which is something commonly done in other parts of the world). It's also the reason why flight paths are so weird and the reason for a lot of the delays in the country.

This meant that there were some fairly strong turbulence that lasted for around 20 minutes.

But finally, some nice weather…

… and the crew started their inflight service. Unlike on short/medium haul flights in most parts of the world, Chinese carriers actually offer a hot meal and while they're nowhere near the quality of the meals found on long-haul flights, it's still really nice to have nonetheless.

There were two options, chicken or vegetarian. I went with the chicken. It was rice noodles with chicken and vegetables. Along with the hot meal, there was also a box containing a bun and a packet of preserved vegetables. The noodles were a bit bland but all in all it's a really nice meal considering the length of the flight.

Anyway, let's have a look at the contents of the seatback pocket, which includes a safety card,

An air sickness bag.

And an inflight magazine, which is all in chinese.

Very nice weather now that we've passed the storm.

Pretty soon, we're starting our descent into Linyi.

I really do like this wing view with views of the engine as well. However, it's worth mentioning that like on the MD-80 and -90, don't pick the window seat on the last row unless you like looking at the rivets on the side of the engine.

Views of Linyi.

As you can see, China still suffers from an air quality problem (hence the smog) however It's gotten much. much better over the last 6-7 years. If you've flown into a major city (like Beijing) back in 2015 you'd know how horrible it was - you couldn't see any signs of land until you were 400-500ft above the ground. 

That's a very interesting looking river in the distance, would've loved to have seen it up close but I didn't have the time sadly.

Welcome to Linyi! Despite the thunderstorm along the way, we arrived on time.

View of the terminal building.

Parked at the gate.

Linyi Qiyang Airport (Lyi)

Being such a small airport, we literally walked away from the gates and straight into the baggage reclaim area, which consisted of 3 belts. My luggage was already waiting for me on the belt when we arrived so that's really nice.

Photo of the arrivals area.

View outside the airport. Sadly the weather here isn't great.

That concludes my adventure on the ARJ21! I'll stay in Linyi for one night before taking a train to Jinan (I've attached a tourism bonus of the city below). I'm staying in Shandong for around a month before making my way back to the UK via 7 cities and 3 countries. The next FR will cover the first leg of that ridiculous journey. See you there!