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China Eastern Airlines is set to introduce a new flight route from Shanghai Pudong to Buenos Aires via Auckland in December. This marks the airline's first venture into South America. The carrier has applied for fifth freedom rights, allowing it to transport passengers and freight between New Zealand and Argentina. The route will fill a gap left by Air New Zealand, which ceased its nonstop service in 2020.
The Shanghai-Auckland-Buenos Aires route will span 10,627 nautical miles (19,681 km), making it the longest one-stop flight globally. It surpasses the current longest one-stop service operated by Aircalin on the Nouméa-Bangkok-Paris route by 12%. This Pacific route became the longest after Singapore Airlines ended its Houston-Manchester flights in March 2025.
China Eastern will operate this twice-weekly service using Boeing 777-300ER aircraft equipped with first-class seating. Although only 19,000 round-trip passengers traveled between Shanghai and Buenos Aires last year, it remains the largest market between China and Argentina due to a significant Chinese population in Argentina.
