China Eastern Airlines has announced an ambitious new long-haul route, connecting Shanghai Pudong to Buenos Aires Ezeiza, with a stopover in Auckland, New Zealand. It will be the first route linking Shanghai and South America and the only air connection between China and Argentina.

This was announced at a signing ceremony on 18 June in Shanghai between China Eastern and Auckland Airport and witnessed by the prime minister of New Zealand Chris Luton, who said that this new route is estimated to bring an additional NZ$48 million (about US$28.7 million) in annual visitor spend to New Zealand.

The new route will operate twice weekly starting December 2025, using the China Eastern’s flagship Boeing 777-300ER aircraft with 316 seats. This includes six first class seats, 52 business class seats and 258 economy seats.

The great-circle distance between Shanghai and Buenos Aires is a 10,580 nautical miles (19,594 km), making it impossible to fly non-stop.

The routing via Auckland also conveniently splits the journey nearly in half, making it the world’s longest one-stop flight. It is also the world’s most southerly long-haul flight. It is slightly further south than Qantas’ Sydney to Johannesburg flight, Qantas’ Sydney to Santiago flight and LATAM’s Auckland to Santiago flight.

China Eastern will also be able to tap into fifth freedom traffic rights, where passengers can travel on the Shanghai–Auckland or Auckland–Buenos Aires sectors independently. This is in addition to its current daily Shanghai to Auckland service which uses the Airbus A350-900, bringing it to total frequency on this leg to nine flights per week.

China Eastern has been flying to Auckland since 2014 and it is also the Chinese airline that operates the most flights between China and New Zealand. China Eastern Airlines also operate flights from Hangzhou to Auckland and from Hangzhou via Sydney to Auckland.

Auckland Airport Chief Executive Carrie Hurihanganui was quoted by Airports International Council, “This new connectivity helps to address a big gap in our direct capacity between New Zealand and South America, which is down 53% compared to the pre-pandemic period. This new service will enhance not only tourism, trade and international education, but providing another link home for the 40,000 South Americans who live in New Zealand.”

Auckland Airport has recently completed an upgrade of its international transit facilities, including an 80% increase in processing space allowing for the introduction of new Aviation Security screening technology. Currently, around 700,000 travellers transit internationally each year through Auckland Airport.

This new route will further boost New Zealand’s global transit role by connecting Asia, Europe, and Latin America through Shanghai, meeting rising regional demand and restoring critical long-haul capacity lost since the pandemic.

Air New Zealand flew from Auckland to Buenos Aires from 2015 until 2020, though the service was cut at the start of the pandemic. Prior to that, Aerolineas Argentinas operated this route until 2012. Malaysia Airlines operated flights twice a week to Buenos Aires via Cape Town (South Africa) more than a decade ago.

China’s third largest airline, Air China, currently flies from Beijing to Sao Paulo via Madrid. LATAM also offers a five-time weekly service from Auckland to Santiago using Boeing 787-9 aircraft.

Aviation Week reported that according to Sabre Market Intelligence data, traffic between New Zealand and Argentina reached 10,500 two-way passengers in 2024, significantly down from 30,800 in 2019, the last full year of Air New Zealand’s Auckland–Buenos Aires service. Traffic between China and Argentina totalled 57,800 passengers last year, despite a lack of nonstop or one-stop service.

The China Eastern route announcement also coincides with China’s recent decision to grant visa-free entry to Argentine citizens for up to 30 days, a move likely to stimulate additional demand between Argentina and China.

A key feature of this new route is New Zealand’s implementation of a transit visa-free policy for Chinese passengers transiting through Auckland, a move aimed at facilitating seamless travel and boosting tourism.

China Eastern also launched its new Shanghai-Geneva on 16 June, followed by Shanghai to Milan starting June 20, and a new route to Copenhagen on July 17. These additions will bring the total number of European destinations served by China Eastern to 15. In May, it launched Lanzhou to Kuala Lumpur flights.

China Eastern is one of the three major airlines in China, headquartered in Shanghai. In terms of passenger traffic, it is China’s second largest airline after China Southern Airlines. As of 2024, China Eastern carried more than 140 million passengers with a passenger load of over 82% and has a fleet of over 800 aircraft. The airline is a member of SkyTeam Alliance.

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