China Southern Airlines’ Airbus A380 has made its international debut, flying the trans-Pacific route between Guangzhou and Los Angeles.

The airline, which is the first Chinese airline to operate the A380, has so far taken delivery of four out of its order for five superjumbos, but thus far has operated them on high volume domestic routes such as Beijing-Shanghai and Guangzhou-Beijing. Now, the aircraft will operate on the daily Guangzhou-LA route, replacing the existing Boeing 777 service.

“There has been so much excitement around our superjumbo flying internationally that the plane is nearly full during these first few days of operation,” said China Southern’s General Manager Melbourne, Adam Zhang, in an event to introduce the new route to Australian travellers.

China Southern now plans to expand its international A380 services to Europe, with the Beijing-Paris route expected to commence in 2013.

China Southern’s A380 seats 506 passengers in a three-class configuration, with eight seats in first class, 70 in business class and 428 in economy.