Long-haul route fifth freedom "southernmost in the world" arrives: here's everything you need to know

There is news in the air that is intriguing and attracting more and more frequent flyer: China Eastern, member of SkyTeam, announced the launch of a new fifth-freedom flight (fifth freedom), for Buenos Aires, which is also the southernmost long-haul route in the world.

According to reports, including from international media such as. One Mile at a Time, as of December 2025, China Eastern plans to launch two weekly flights from Shanghai (PVG) to Auckland (AKL) to Buenos Aires (EZE).

It is actually double news: this new route would not only be China Eastern's first ever for South America, but it would also be-as mentioned above-thehe southernmost long-haul route in the world.

As we learn, this route will cover a distance of 12,229 miles, with the Shanghai-Auckland sector covering 5,808 miles and the Auckland-Buenos Aires sector covering 6,421 miles. The flight between New Zealand and Argentina will be a fifth-freedom flight, which means that it will be possible for passengers to travel exclusively between these two countries with China Eastern.

Although the timetable has not yet been published, China Eastern intends to use a Boeing 777-300ER for the route, with 316 seats. These include. six first class seats, 52 business class seats and 258 economy seats.

This new route is slightly further south than the Qantas flight from Sydney (SYD) to Johannesburg (JNB), the Qantas flight from Sydney (SYD) to Santiago (SCL), and the LATAM flight from Auckland (AKL) to Santiago (SCL).

This is not the first time we have seen service between Auckland and Buenos Aires. Air New Zealand operated this route from 2015 to 2020, even though the service was discontinued at the beginning of the pandemic. Before then, Aerolineas Argentinas operated this route until 2012.

China Eastern will not be the only Chinese airline to fly to South America. For example, Air China flies from Beijing (PEK) to Madrid (MAD) to São Paulo (GRU), but as you can see, that route goes "the other way."

Obviously Air New Zealand would have a significant advantage in this market, given the traffic connecting to Auckland. However, Air New Zealand also has a higher opportunity cost in operating such a route.