Overview
- China Eastern completed the inaugural MU745 on December 4, launching a twice‑weekly Shanghai–Auckland–Buenos Aires schedule for the 2025–26 winter season.
- The routing spans roughly 19,600–20,000 kilometers, with the Shanghai–Buenos Aires leg scheduled at about 25½ hours and the return at around 29 hours.
- A planned stop of roughly two hours in Auckland enables refuelling and crew changes while passengers remain on the same flight number.
- The flight is operated by a Boeing 777-300ER, with the inaugural sector flown by aircraft B-7882 in a special National Museum of China livery.
- New Zealand officials and Auckland Airport highlighted expected tourism and trade gains, citing 2025 traffic of about 94,000 NZ–South America passengers and NZ$129 million in air trade, with Chinese transit travelers eligible to use an NZeTA.