Overview
- The inaugural MU745 departed Shanghai on December 4, stopped in Auckland, and continued to Buenos Aires on a route described as covering about 20,000 kilometers.
- The westbound journey is scheduled at roughly 25 hours 30 minutes with a planned two-hour technical stop in Auckland for refueling and crew rotation.
- The return leg is reported to take about 29 hours, reflecting longer scheduled flight time on the eastbound segment.
- China Eastern is operating the service with a Boeing 777-39P and promotes it as a new southbound corridor that saves more than four hours versus northern routings.
- New Zealand officials welcomed expected tourism and trade benefits, with Auckland Airport citing 94,000 annual NZ–South America passengers and NZ$129 million in air trade to October 2025.