China Eastern Airlines has just created a new milestone for the world aviation industry when it made flight MU745 in the early morning of December 4, departing from Dong Pudong Shanghai International Airport, flying through the Eastern - Western Hemisphere, North - South Hemisphere before stopping in Auckland (New Zealand) and continuing to Buenos Aires (Argentina).
This about 20,000km journey set a new record for the world's longest one-way flight and helped shorten travel time by more than 4 hours compared to traditional routes.
The route is operated with a frequency of 2 round trips per week, while filling the gap without direct flights from Shanghai to major cities in South America.
China Eastern said the new route will establish a Southern Flight Corridor across the Pacific Ocean, reshaping the airline connection structure between the three continents.
Due to technical limitations and too long distances, previous China-South American flights were forced to transit through Europe or North America, causing the total flight time to exceed 30 hours.
With the new corridor through Auckland, the departure time is reduced to about 25 hours, which is both shorter and more convenient for passengers transferring in the South Pacific region.
China Eastern affirmed that this 20,000km route is not only a technological advance and operational capacity, but also opens a new strategic connection direction on the global aviation map.
