By Frank Chen,Igor Patrick

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China is poised to launch a new air route between Shanghai and Argentina that will traverse 20,000km (12,000 miles) and span 25 hours, as the country’s trade and political ties with far-flung Latin America call for faster, more direct flights that skip stopovers in the United States or Europe.
China Eastern Airlines has announced that an inaugural flight from Shanghai to Buenos Aires will take off on December 4, to cut travel time between China’s largest city and the Argentine capital by as much as five hours.
With only one transit stop in Auckland, New Zealand, the state-owned carrier said the new connection will be the most straightforward one between China and Argentina as well as neighbouring countries including Chile and Uruguay.
New Zealand will waive transit visa requirements for Chinese nationals passing through Auckland in the run-up to the launch of the Shanghai–Buenos Aires service.
The measure is expected to strengthen the city’s role as a southern hub for travel between Asia and South America.
The coming service will be China’s first air route to Latin and South America via a stopover in the southern hemisphere, not through the US or Europe, which are usually congested with prolonged layover times, according to the carrier.
Despite a brief landing in Auckland, China Eastern will operate the mammoth journey using a single aircraft under one flight number.

“Passengers will save hours in transit and flying time … They will also arrive in Buenos Aires in better shape since they will hop across less time zones during the first portion from Shanghai to Auckland, helping them better adapt to time changes throughout the whole journey,” the Shanghai-based carrier said in a statement.
Argentina is among the farthest countries from China. Parts of Argentina and China are antipodal to each other, situated such that a straight line connecting the two would pass through Earth’s centre.
China Eastern thus claims the air link will be among the world’s longest, and it will deploy its widebody Boeing 777-300ER jets for the twice-a-week round-trip service.
The eastbound journey is scheduled at nearly 29 hours, several hours longer than the westbound leg. With two weekly flights, China Eastern will place more than 65,000 seats on the market each year.
That figure comes close to the total number of passengers already travelling annually between China and Argentina, which is pegged at 57,800 passengers last year.
While containers and barges have long been ferrying raw materials and agri-commodities from Brazil and Argentina to China and machinery and electric vehicles in the opposite direction, strong economic ties have also seen growing business and tourist travel demand.
China–Latin America trade has surged from about US$12 billion in 2000 to US$515 billion in 2024, according to UN Comtrade, with Brazil, Mexico and Argentina accounting for much of the flow.
For Argentina, imports from China rose from roughly US$330 million in 2002 to nearly US$17.5 billion in 2022, while overall bilateral trade stood at US$16.35 billion in 2024.
The launch also comes as Argentina adjusts its stance towards Beijing. President Javier Milei began his tenure vowing to distance the country from China and even blocked entry into the Brics grouping.
But after Beijing suspended part of a multibillion-dollar currency swap in late 2023, Buenos Aires renegotiated the deal and secured its renewal through 2026.
Milei has since shifted to a more pragmatic tone, describing China as an important partner and loosening visa rules for Chinese travellers.

In May, flag carrier Air China also resumed the Beijing-São Paulo service through Madrid, once suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic, while China Southern Airlines flies from Shenzhen to Mexico City nonstop.
Jason Zheng, an analyst with the Shanghai-based consultancy and aviation news portal Airwefly, said the Shanghai-Buenos Aires service may poach passengers who otherwise would need to pass through the US.
“With China becoming more invested in the economy and infrastructure of Latin America – long regarded as the backyard of the US – China’s state-owned airlines are adding new routes and bypassing the US,” Zheng said. “Other than operational considerations, there is also a political message.”
“The new service could be the most convenient link between China and Argentina and beyond, as one can save about four hours and avoid transit visa requirements compared with going through Atlanta, Miami or New York’s JFK,” Zheng said.
“Business travellers and tourists from China or Chinese engineers going to Argentina for infrastructure projects will likely fly the new route,” he added.
But he also warned that new routes will still need hefty government subsidies to keep running and demand may fluctuate.
Still, Chinese carriers may add more capacity to Latin America via New Zealand.
In June, China Eastern President Wang Zhiqing said during a discussion with New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon that the carrier would expand Argentina-bound services via Auckland in 2026 and hoped to woo travellers from other parts of Asia.
Wang also added that the new route would help New Zealand become a transit node benefiting from China-Latin American exchanges.