Auckland Airport is seeing growing demand on its Southern Link service between China and South America, which was launched in December.China Eastern Airlines' Shanghai to Auckland to Buenos Aires service was doubling to four times a weeks from December 2026, while Argentinean visitor arrivals to New Zealand were up 35 percent between December 2025 and March 2026."This service has quickly become an important link between China, New Zealand and South America," Auckland Airport's chief customer officer Scott Tasker said.The air cargo export value to Argentina reached $7.3 million since the launch, or 127 percent up on the same period the year before.Combined with the dedicated capacity on LATAM to Santiago, exports through Auckland Airport via Buenos Aires and Santiago grew 120 percent year-on-year to 105 tonnes, with total export value to South America up 22 percent to $28.6m.Tasker said the additional flights from China would support more trade opportunities for exporters while making travel between the three markets easier."Kiwi travellers are also making the most of the direct link with 22 percent more travelling to Argentina now the direct flight connection is available."He said the added capacity would create more opportunities for tourism and trade, as more than 8000 Chinese travellers flew through Auckland Airport to/from Buenos Aires over a the first-five-month period.Growth between Auckland and mainland China was expected to continue, with seat capacity forecast to increase 8 percent year-on-year through to the end of October 2026.Auckland Airport currently served six airlines flying to seven destinations in mainland China."Increased seat capacity on the Auckland-China routes is a key driver for visitor and visiting friends and family markets, both of which are vital to growing our tourism economy," Tasker said."Following changes last November to the visa settings made by the New Zealand Government, Auckland has seen a 20 percent year-on-year increase for the period November 2025 to March 2026 in visitor arrivals from China."Chinese visitors to New Zealand on average spend nine days in New Zealand and each spend on average $5500 whilst in New Zealand making a welcome contribution to the visitor economy across New Zealand's regions. Total Chinese visitor spend in New Zealand for the year-ending March 2026 was $1.5 billion."