China Southern Airlines signed a new codeshare agreement with Virgin Australia on Monday to enhance its route network coverage in Oceania.

The codeshare cooperation is scheduled to start early next year, allowing passengers to travel on China Southern flights into major Australian gateways including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Darwin.

China Southern and Virgin Australia will continue to explore new opportunities for international cooperation, according to Zhang Dongsheng, deputy director general of the Commercial Steering Committee of China Southern.

Alistair Hartley, chief strategy and transformation officer of Virgin Australia, said: "China remains one of Australia's most important and fast-growing tourism markets, and this partnership will open up more opportunities for visitors arriving on China Southern's services to effectively connect across the Virgin Australia network."

China Southern currently operates seven trunk routes with flights from Guangzhou to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, and Darwin, and from Shenzhen to Sydney, totalling up to 77 weekly flights during peak seasons.