China Eastern restarts direct Perth-Shanghai flights

China Eastern Airlines is bringing back its special Chinese New Year flights between Perth and Shanghai in 2025.

The flights between the WA capital and China’s commercial metropolis will use one of China Eastern’s Airbus A330 jets, with 21 lie-flat business class seats in a passenger-friendly 1-2-1 layout providing direct access to the aisle.

The SkyTeam member airline will run ten flights between 24 January and 14 February 2025, with the schedule showing three flights per week:

• MU7389 departs Shanghai at 11.20am to reach Perth at 8.55am, and those business class beds will definitely be appreciated on the nearly 10-hour overnight trek
• MU7390 is wheels-up from Perth at 12.30pm, arriving into Shanghai at 10pm

The flights, underwritten by the WA state government, are expected to bring thousands of Chinese visitors to Perth throughout China’s biggest national holiday for the Year of the Snake.

It’s a repeat of the same seasonal approach which China Eastern adopted for 2024’s Year of the Dragon celebrations; the airline has in the past floated the idea of year-round Perth-Shanghai flights.

However, this time around there’s also the opportunity for West Australians to visit Shanghai without the hassle or expense of obtaining a visa, under a recently-introduced Chinese visa waiver for “citizens holding ordinary passports of Australia traveling to China for business, tourism, family visit or transit purposes with the duration not exceeding 15 days.”

As previously reported, China Southern Airlines will restart non-stop flights between Perth and Guangzhou in November, while ANA is bringing back its own seasonal connection between Perth and Tokyo from mid-October.

And closer to home, Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson is keen to resume direct flights from Perth to Auckland, which could also offer a connection to Qantas’ non-stop flights to New York.