China Eastern Airlines has completed the inaugural rotation of flight MU745/746 between Shanghai Pudong and Buenos Aires Ezeiza, instantly vaulting the carrier into the record books for operating the world’s longest scheduled commercial service. The eastbound leg, which departed Pudong at 02:00 on 6 December and arrived in Argentina at 16:55 local time the same day, covered more than 20,000 km and lasted 25½ hours including a single, fuel-only technical stop in Auckland, New Zealand.
Although marketed as a "direct" flight, the one-stop configuration circumvents historical routings that forced passengers to transit in Europe, North America or the Gulf, cutting door-to-door journey times by roughly five hours. The Boeing 777-300ER service will run twice weekly (Mon/Thu southbound; Tue/Fri northbound) with a standard capacity of 282 seats across three classes.
![China Eastern debuts record-breaking Shanghai–Buenos Aires route, shrinking Asia–South America travel times]()
For China, the route fills a glaring white spot on the route map, giving exporters and agribusiness importers a point-to-point option into Mercosur for the first time and dovetailing with Beijing’s pledge to lift two-way trade with Latin America to US$700 billion by 2030. For Argentina, whose flag-carrier Aerolíneas Argentinas has no Asian long-haul network of its own, the service promises to stimulate inbound tourism and cargo flows—especially high-value perishables—while supporting Buenos Aires’ ambition to become a South American hub.
Corporate mobility teams are already adjusting travel policies: multinationals with footprints in both Asia and the Southern Cone told Global Mobility News they expect to reroute as much as 60 % of Shanghai-origin traffic onto the new flight to avoid visa requirements and transit security checks in third countries. Logistics analysts also point to an anticipated knock-on effect for belly-hold freight, with e-commerce sellers eyeing 36-hour door-to-door delivery windows between eastern China and metropolitan Argentina.
Beyond the immediate commercial upside, aviation strategists see the launch as a signal of China’s determination to expand its long-haul reach despite a still-fragile global demand environment. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has granted seven additional long-range flight pairs for the coming summer season, most aimed at underserved emerging-market corridors. If load factors exceed the 75 % break-even threshold, China Eastern says it will consider upgrading the Shanghai–Buenos Aires sector to a true non-stop once the airline starts taking delivery of next-generation ultra-long-range aircraft after 2028.
Although marketed as a "direct" flight, the one-stop configuration circumvents historical routings that forced passengers to transit in Europe, North America or the Gulf, cutting door-to-door journey times by roughly five hours. The Boeing 777-300ER service will run twice weekly (Mon/Thu southbound; Tue/Fri northbound) with a standard capacity of 282 seats across three classes.
For China, the route fills a glaring white spot on the route map, giving exporters and agribusiness importers a point-to-point option into Mercosur for the first time and dovetailing with Beijing’s pledge to lift two-way trade with Latin America to US$700 billion by 2030. For Argentina, whose flag-carrier Aerolíneas Argentinas has no Asian long-haul network of its own, the service promises to stimulate inbound tourism and cargo flows—especially high-value perishables—while supporting Buenos Aires’ ambition to become a South American hub.
Corporate mobility teams are already adjusting travel policies: multinationals with footprints in both Asia and the Southern Cone told Global Mobility News they expect to reroute as much as 60 % of Shanghai-origin traffic onto the new flight to avoid visa requirements and transit security checks in third countries. Logistics analysts also point to an anticipated knock-on effect for belly-hold freight, with e-commerce sellers eyeing 36-hour door-to-door delivery windows between eastern China and metropolitan Argentina.
Beyond the immediate commercial upside, aviation strategists see the launch as a signal of China’s determination to expand its long-haul reach despite a still-fragile global demand environment. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has granted seven additional long-range flight pairs for the coming summer season, most aimed at underserved emerging-market corridors. If load factors exceed the 75 % break-even threshold, China Eastern says it will consider upgrading the Shanghai–Buenos Aires sector to a true non-stop once the airline starts taking delivery of next-generation ultra-long-range aircraft after 2028.
