World’s longest flight makes NZ a key bridge between Asia and South America

Friday, 5 December 2025

When flight MU745 touched down at Auckland Airport just after 6pm on Thursday night, it was the first stopover for the world's longest direct flight - a stopover that it is hoped will be a tourism and trade boost.

Auckland Airport is the central link in China Eastern's new long haul route from Shanghai to Buenos Aires, and guests at a welcome ceremony at the airport for the inaugural flight cheered on the plane’s arrival.

A huge cake was cut, and a contingent of high profile guests, including Tourism and Hospitality Minister Louise Upston, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford, Auckland mayor Wayne Brown, and the Chinese and Argentinian ambassadors to New Zealand, celebrated.

The new bi-weekly flight connects China, New Zealand and South America on a direct route for the first time. Covering 20,000km and taking up to 29 hours it will be the world’s longest flight.

Auckland provides a two hour stopover point on the journey, and passengers will disembark either to transit on or to stay in New Zealand.

It is a link expected to deliver significant benefits for tourism, trade and education for New Zealand, and to attract high-value visitors from China and South America.

Auckland Airport chief executive Carrie Hurihanganui said the new route brought the long held Southern Link vision to life, positioning New Zealand as a strategic bridge between Asia and South America.

“It strengthens our ties with China, one of our most important visitor markets, and creates a valuable new pathway for tourism, trade and cultural exchange with South America.

“For travellers, this service opens more choice and flexibility to connect across three nations. For New Zealand exporters and tourism operators, it expands our reach into an important and growing region.”

Upston said the new route improved air connectivity which was vital for New Zealand’s future economic growth, and marked a milestone for the country as a tourism and trade gateway.

International tourism was a crucial part of the Government’s focus on economic growth, and it was “firmly focused” on growing tourism beyond 2019 levels, she said.

“Connectivity like this is a critical piece of the puzzle so it’s really exciting to have this route opening up today, and I’m confident there will be others to come in the future.”

And specific campaigns into China aimed to build Chinese visitor numbers which are still at 60% to 65% of pre-Covid levels.

Changes to immigration settings to allow Chinese visitors to transit via New Zealand on an electronic travel authority without having to apply for a separate transit visa helped facilitate the new route.

The Government would be keeping a close eye on numbers to see the impact of the visa changes, Upston said.

“There’s a huge range of measures we’re taking to build those numbers back up again, there’s increasing momentum which is encouraging, and as the China economy recovers that will help encourage more visitors.”

But as New Zealand was a big exporting nation the Government wanted to make sure it could get its goods to overseas markets faster, so the new route was also exciting for trade, she added.

“We don't just want to fill our planes with people. We want to fill our planes with products and make sure that our three countries prosper.”

Brown, who joined the inaugural flight for the leg to Buenos Aires, said Auckland’s airport and port were the most efficient hubs for trans-Pacific trade and investment between China and South America.

'Auckland will now be the connector for two economic titans, and is now channelling two massive, wealth-generating trade flows right through the middle of the Asia Pacific.”

He had advocated for the visa changes that enabled the flight route because growth now lay city-to-city, not country-to-country, and there was immense potential in forging closer city ties with these countries, he said.

“We must secure our stake in the potential trade uplift to come from this. The Southern Link will provide resilience in supply chains and provide real connection this side of the globe.”

Limited post-pandemic air connectivity between New Zealand and South America has impacted travel between the two countries.

Brown said South American visitors to Auckland were down 42% on 2019, while Auckland airport’s chief customer officer, Scott Tasker, said South American travellers to New Zealand were down about a third on pre-Covid numbers.

There was room for substantial growth, and air trade between New Zealand and South America grew 11% to $129 million in the year to October, he said.

“We know direct air connectivity unlocks travel and trade, but this service will also unlock real capacity for students to come and study here, which is a benefit as we're about 40% down on the number of South American students pre-Covid.”

The new route increased New Zealanders’ travel options to South America, and with about 40,000 South Americans now resident in New Zealand there was a strong base for visiting-friends-and-relatives travel, Tasker said.

“As far as additional visitors to New Zealand from China and South America we estimate they will have a combined spend of about $48 million per year.”

China Eastern, and other airlines would be watching the success of the route, and it would be great to see airlines build further services, he said.

The flight flies from Shanghai every Monday and Thursday and returns from Buenos Aires on Tuesdays and Fridays.