China Eastern To Launch 29-Hour Shanghai – Auckland – Buenos Aires Service
ID 229975990 | China Eastern Airlines © VanderWolfImages | Dreamstime.com
China Eastern Airlines is about to pull off something unusual even by long-haul standards: a twice-weekly, fifth-freedom service from Shanghai Pudong (PVG) to Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) via Auckland (AKL) that will run to roughly 29 hours door to door. When it starts in December 2025, it will be the longest one-stop itinerary regularly offered by a major carrier, and China Eastern will become the only mainland Chinese airline serving South America.
Route & Schedule Details
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Start: December 2025
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Flight number: MU745 / MU746
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Routing: Shanghai Pudong (PVG) – Auckland (AKL) – Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE)
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Frequency: 2x weekly (Mondays and Thursdays from PVG; returns Tuesdays and Fridays from EZE)
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Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER in three cabins
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Stage lengths:
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PVG–AKL: ~11h30m, arriving AKL early evening
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AKL–EZE: ~12h, departing AKL around 20:30–20:55
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Total elapsed time: about 29 hours PVG–EZE, including a planned ~2-hour technical stop in Auckland
Because China Eastern has secured fifth-freedom rights on the Auckland (AKL) – Buenos Aires (EZE) sector, passengers will be able to buy tickets just for that long South Pacific leg — a useful alternative to LATAM’s Auckland–Santiago (SCL) operation and a partial replacement for historic AKL–EZE services that disappeared after the pandemic.
Why This Route?
The China–Argentina market is small in absolute terms — industry booking data for 2024 showed only tens of thousands of roundtrips a year between the two countries — but it’s also fragmented and underserved. Today, most travelers connect over Europe, the US, the Gulf, or Santiago. By offering the only China-flagged service into Argentina, China Eastern can:
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Target VFR and diaspora traffic (Argentina has a sizeable Chinese community, estimated in the hundreds of thousands).
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Offer 30-day visa-free access to China for outbound Argentine tourists.
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Pick up Oceania–South America traffic that prefers a same-plane service to Ezeiza.
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Feed the Shanghai hub on the return with cargo and premium passengers out of South America.
This is also strategically sensible for a SkyTeam carrier: China Eastern can sell beyond-EZE traffic via partners in the region, while giving Delta and Air France-KLM a unique eastbound option to China through PVG.
Onboard Product: 777-300ER
China Eastern will use its long-haul Boeing 777-300ER — the right choice for a mission that spends this long in the air and needs cargo lift:
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First Class: 6 suites (1-2-1), fully flat, 180° bed, wide seats for passengers who want to sleep both Pacific and South Pacific segments
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Business Class: 52 seats (1-2-1), fully flat, 43″ pitch, 20″+ width
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Economy Class: 258 seats (3-4-3), 32″ pitch, personal IFE
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Total seats: 316
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Services in AKL: passengers can deplane during the turn while the aircraft is refueled and cleaned — a welcome break on a near-30-hour journey
For premium travelers, the real sell is one aircraft, one ticket, two oceans. For economy flyers, the stop in Auckland (AKL) breaks up what would otherwise be an extremely long duty day.
Competitive Context
China Eastern will overtake Aircalin’s Nouméa (NOU) – Bangkok (BKK) – Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) as the longest one-stop itinerary currently flown, by roughly 12% more distance.
On the Oceania–South America corridor, this service will sit alongside or just under:
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LATAM: Auckland (AKL) – Santiago (SCL)
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Qantas: Sydney (SYD) – Santiago (SCL)
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Historic but currently absent: Air New Zealand AKL–EZE, Aerolíneas Argentinas AKL–Syd/South Pacific links
What China Eastern adds is China-origin traffic and SkyTeam connectivity, plus an AKL–EZE option on days when existing flights don’t operate.
Bottom Line
China Eastern is using a smart fifth-freedom stop in Auckland (AKL) to open a brand-new long-haul corridor from Shanghai Pudong (PVG) to Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) with a Boeing 777-300ER from December 2025. At roughly 29 hours start to finish, it will be the world’s longest one-stop flight, and it neatly serves three markets at once: China–Argentina, New Zealand–Argentina, and SkyTeam partners feeding into PVG.
