Overview
- Flight MU745 completed its inaugural journey in about 25 hours 30 minutes over roughly 20,000 kilometers, setting a new mark for scheduled commercial passenger services by duration and distance.
- The service uses a single flight number and the same aircraft through a scheduled two‑hour technical stop in Auckland for refuelling and crew changes, so it is direct rather than nonstop.
- China Eastern plans to run the route twice weekly in the 2025–26 winter schedule, with the Buenos Aires–Shanghai return expected to take about 29 hours due to headwinds.
- The inaugural rotation was operated by a Boeing 777-300ER registered B-7882 in a special National Museum of China livery, according to flight-tracking data and aviation reports.
- New Zealand officials and Auckland Airport welcomed the link as a boost to tourism and trade, noting NZeTA transit access for Chinese travelers and citing 94,000 annual passengers and NZ$129 million in air trade with South America.