Flight attendants from China Eastern Airlines introduce the Shanghai-Auckland-Buenos Aires route to passengers at Shanghai Pudong International Airport on December 4, 2025. Photo: Courtesy of China Eastern Airlines
At 02:19 am on Thursday Beijing time, China Eastern Airlines flight MU745, carrying 282 passengers, departed from Shanghai. After a stopover in Auckland, New Zealand, it continued its journey to Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina.
As the world’s first commercial air route connecting cities geographically located on the opposite side of the Earth, the route sets a new record for the world’s longest one-way flight. It also stands as the latest example of China’s concrete efforts to enhance connectivity and cooperation within the framework of Global South collaboration, Chinese experts said.
Spanning approximately 20,000 kilometers and crossing both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres as well as the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the route shortens the travel time between China and South America by more than four hours, according to the release China Eastern Airlines sent to the Global Times on Thursday.
With Boeing 777-300ER, the newly launched route is scheduled to operate two round-trip flights per week. In addition to achieving the longest flight distance globally, it fills the gap in direct flights from Shanghai to major South American cities, establishes a “southbound corridor” flight path across the Pacific Ocean, and reshapes air travel connectivity among three continents.
Due to the very long route distances and aircraft performance limits, flights between China and South America currently require transit stops, the airline said, noting the new route reduces travel time from nearly 30 hours to roughly 25, offering both shorter flights and more convenient connections.
The New Zealand government announced earlier this year that starting from November 2025, Chinese passport holders transiting through Auckland International Airport to a third country will be eligible to use the New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority for transit purposes, without needing to apply for a separate “Transit Visa,” which makes the flight possible.
China Eastern Airlines is leveraging the new flight route to deepen its strategy of integrating passenger and cargo services. Simultaneously, its logistics subsidiary has activated a direct channel for shipping fresh produce from Argentina to China. On the return leg, the belly hold of the aircraft will be utilized to carry 2.1 tons of Argentine cherries and 10.5 tons of chilled Chilean salmon back to the Chinese market.
Wan Zhe, an economist and professor at the Belt and Road School of Beijing Normal University, told the Global Times the newly established air link is crucial as it strengthens air traffic between China and the Southern Hemisphere.
In his view, the model of “aviation + trade and economic cooperation + people-to-people exchanges” is set to be multiplied in the future as the ‘Air Silk Road’ makes progress.
By exploring new market opportunities and tapping technological advancements, a number of Chinese airlines are setting up new routes, Wan said, noting the operation of this particular air link will boost Auckland’s status as an air traffic hub in the Southern Hemisphere, while greatly improving direct exchanges between China and Argentina.
The air transport is not alone. In early December, fresh Chilean cherries crossed the Pacific and arrived in China via ship.
According to CCTV News, fresh Chilean cherries arrived in Hong Kong on a cargo vessel on Tuesday and were then transported by truck to Shenzhen Bay Port. CCTV News reported that this shipment was China’s first batch of Chilean cherries transported by sea for the 2025-2026 season.
Injecting momentum into cooperation
November 14 marks the first anniversary of the Chancay Port in Peru, a flagship project of Belt and Road cooperation between China and Peru. Since its inauguration a year ago, the new port has grown rapidly, achieving cumulative container throughput of 270,000 standard containers and handling around 1.36 million tons of bulk and general cargo, well above initial forecasts, People’s Daily reported.
Against the backdrop of rapid growth in trade volume and continuous improvement in trade facilitation between China and Latin American countries, the deepening of cooperation between the two sides, as exemplified by landmark projects such as this air route and the Chancay Port, continues to inject new momentum into China-Latin America collaboration, Song Wei, a professor at the School of International Relations and Diplomacy at Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times on Thursday.
Accelerated complementary cooperation among Global South countries will help them jointly address challenges in global governance. Meanwhile, their collaboration in green transformation and the digital economy will contribute to the recovery and growth of the world economy, noted Song.
The economies of China and Latin America are highly complementary. China remains the second-largest trading partner for Latin America and the top trading partner for countries such as Chile, Brazil, and Peru, according to Xinhua on May 21.
Ten years ago, China set a goal to achieve bilateral trade with Latin America amounting to $500 billion within a decade. Today, China-Latin America economic and trade cooperation has yielded impressive results. Last year, bilateral trade reached a historic high of $518.47 billion, reflecting a year-on-year growth of 6.0 percent, Xinhua said.
