[May 14, Oriental News]China Southern Airlines announced on the 11th that the first direct passenger flight between China and Mexico landed in Mexico City after a 16-hour flight, marking the start of a flight from China to Latin America. The first direct passenger route has officially opened.

The flight will operate twice weekly from Shenzhen in China’s Guangdong province to Mexico City, covering more than 14,000 kilometers, making it China’s longest non-stop international route and the 10th longest in the world. It’s one of the direct flights.

Previously, while traveling from China to Mexico and other Latin American countries,International passengers would have to make one or two transfers or stopovers at other airports, such as in Europe or the Middle East, and journeys could take 30 to 40 hours.

Mexico has a long history and rich tourism resources, and is one of the biggest overseas tourist destinations for Chinese citizens. It is China’s second largest trading partner in Latin America.

The opening of this line will promote people-to-people exchanges and provide a bridge for continued exchanges and deepened cooperation in areas such as tourism, economy and culture, market sources said.

China Southern Airlines said the demand for this route is due to the increased economic, trade, development and people-to-people exchanges between China and Latin America, which will facilitate further high-level opening-up.

According to data from the General Administration of Customs of China, trade between China and Latin America in 2023 exceeded $489 billion (approximately 76 trillion 200.9 billion yen), an increase of 1.1 percent from the previous year.

So far, 22 Latin American countries have signed cooperation agreements with China on the Belt and Road initiative, deepening cooperation in areas such as infrastructure construction, trade, investment, finance and tourism.

For example, the free trade agreement between China and Ecuador entered into force on May 1 and aims to further unlock the potential for trade and investment cooperation.

The Shenzhen-Mexico City route is China Southern’s third intercontinental route from Shenzhen. The airline currently operates 13 international and regional routes, including three intercontinental routes from Shenzhen to Mexico City, Sydney and Moscow.

China Southern Airlines previously announced that it would begin direct flights from Shenzhen to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on June 3. (c)Touhou Shimpo/AFPBB News