Southern route to South America

Shanghai to Buenos Aires via New Zealand, and Chengdu to Auckland

Southern route to South America
Shanghai to Buenos Aires via New Zealand, and Chengdu to Auckland

September 24th, 2025. China Eastern Airlines will launch a twice-weekly service linking Shanghai and Buenos Aires via Auckland, in New Zealand. The service will operate twice a week, departing from Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport on Mondays and Thursdays.

Flight number MU745 will depart from Shanghai at 02:00 and will touch down in Auckland at 18:30. The stopover is two hours on Mondays, two hours and twenty-five minutes on Thursdays. It departs again at 20:30 or 20:55, arriving at Ezeiza International Airport in Buenos Aires at 16:30 or 16:55, depending on your day of travel.

The return leg, flight number MU746, leaves Buenos Aires at 02:00 on Tuesdays and Fridays and arrives in Auckland at 08:40 the next morning, local time. It leaves again at 10:40 and arrives back in Shanghai at 18:00.

The outbound journey will be a little under twenty-five hours, and the return trip will be about twenty-nine hours. The flight will be served Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.

Chengdu to Auckland

From December 7th, Sichuan Airlines will be relaunching its New Zealand service after a seven-month hiatus. The flight will depart twice a week on Sundays and Thursdays.

Flight number 3U3811 will take off from Chengdu’s Tianfu International Airport at 01:30 and will touch down at Auckland International Airport at 18:40. The return leg, flight number 3U3812, leaves Auckland at 22:00 and lands back in Chengdu at 05:35 the following morning.

The route will be served by Airbus A350-900 aircraft, and the outbound journey time will be about twelve hours, a little longer for the return.

Picture: Caminito. La Boca, Buenos Aires by Hernán Piñera via Wikimedia Commons

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