China Southern Airlines’ new route between Shenzhen and Mexico City will become the first scheduled nonstop service between mainland China and Mexico in more than four years if the launch goes ahead as planned.

The carrier says it intends to begin flying twice a week between Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport (SZX) and Mexico City International Airport (MEX) from April 17, operating via Tijuana on the return leg because of the Mexican capital’s high altitude. Reservations are as yet unavailable.

At about 8,779 mi. (7,629 nm), the route from Shenzhen to Mexico City will become the farthest in China Southern’s network, eclipsing the current leader—Guangzhou-New York John F. Kennedy International Airport—which amounts to 7,986 mi. (6,940 nm).

According to data provided by OAG Schedules Analyser, the service will also become the eighth-farthest in the world by distance once it launches, pushing Singapore Airlines’ flights between Singapore and Los Angeles into ninth place.

The market between mainland China and Mexico has been without regular nonstop flights since January 2020 when Hainan Airlines paused operations between Beijing Capital International Airport and Tijuana. Aeromexico also offered scheduled service between MEX and Shanghai Pudong International Airport until December 2019.

Sabre Market Intelligence figures reveal that O&D traffic between the countries totaled around 173,000 two-way passengers in 2019, with Mexico City-Shanghai, Mexico City-Beijing and Mexico City-Guangzhou the biggest city pairs. Mexico City-Shenzhen was the ninth-largest city pair during the year, with 2,663 two-way passengers.

The China-Mexico O&D market dropped to 9,800 and 11,600 two-way passengers in 2021 and 2022, respectively—due to pandemic border closures—but traffic rebounded to around 65,500 passengers last year despite the absence of nonstop service. Tokyo Narita International Airport was the largest one-stop market in 2023, followed by Paris Charles de Gaulle and Frankfurt Airport.

China Southern’s planned entry to the Mexican market comes amid strengthening trade ties between China and Mexico. It is estimated that China’s exports to Mexico totaled more than $90 billion in 2022, with almost $13 billion of goods going the other way.