China Eastern Airlines· Callsign CES5101 ·Daily

MU5101 from Shanghai to Beijing, tracked live

The Shanghai-Beijing air shuttle is one of the busiest and most premium corridors in China.

Save
Send this flight to someone

They get a page with the live position and no sign-up. The link stops working when it expires.

Not currently flying

Status on this page means observed ADS-B activity inside available receiver coverage. Confirm official delay, cancellation, gate and booking status with China Eastern Airlines.

SHA
Shanghai
Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport
08:00 CST (UTC+8)
2h 20m
1,076 km · 668 mi
Non-stop
PEK
Beijing
Beijing Capital International Airport
10:20 CST (UTC+8)
Typical schedule · next departure Friday, October 30 · times shown in airport local time
Aircraft
Airbus A350-900
typical equipment
Distance
1,076 km
581 nautical miles
Heading
338°
tracks north
Clock change
0 h
same time zone
Block speed
461 km/h
gate to gate average
Range used
7%
of the type's book range
Length rank
#381
of 439 tracked routes

Follow MU5101 in real time

The aircraft appears below whenever it is airborne and inside receiver coverage. Its planned route is drawn between the two airports.

MU5101 is not transmitting right now. It may be between rotations, on the ground, or out of receiver range - Check back near 08:00 at SHA. The full map has the rest of the sky, and what is flying over me will name whatever is above you instead.

MU5101 at a glance

  • The trip: 1,076 km (668 miles) from Shanghai to Beijing, flying north.
  • How long: 2h 20m gate to gate. That is about 461 km/h on average, taxi time included.
  • Your watch: no change, both cities share a clock.
  • Window seat tip: either side works on this heading.
  • The plane: usually an Airbus A350-900. This route uses about 7% of how far it can fly.
  • When it goes: out of SHA in early morning, into PEK in mid-morning.

MU5101 route overview: SHA to PEK

MU5101 distance and great-circle path

MU5101 covers 1,076 km, or 668 miles. That makes it a short-haul flight, a single-aisle hop where turnaround time matters more than range. Of the 439 routes we track, it ranks 381 by distance.

The plane leaves Shanghai heading north. On the map above, the line looks curved. That is normal. The shortest path over a round planet never looks straight on a flat screen. Our guide explains how the SHA-PEK route appears on a tracker map.

Why MU5101 block time differs from cruise time

The schedule allows 2.3 hours from gate to gate. That works out to about 461 km/h. An Airbus A350-900 cruises faster than that. The gap is taxi time, climbing, descending and holding.

Winds aloft shift the real flight time by up to an hour in either direction. See what really moves flight times.

Can the Airbus A350-900 comfortably fly MU5101?

Not at all. At roughly 7% of its range, this is an easy trip for an Airbus A350-900. The airline picked it for cabin size, not distance. The full numbers are on our aircraft page for the Airbus A350-900.

What to know about MU5101

  • Time change: none. Both cities keep the same clock, so arrival time reads exactly as you expect.

MU5101 against the rest of the SHA-PEK pairing

We track 2 scheduled services between Shanghai and Beijing, all of them China Eastern Airlines. Among them, it is the last departure of the day on this route; it is given 5 minutes more block time than the quickest scheduled service; it is the only one flown with an Airbus A350-900.

Measured against MU5101, which pushes back at 08:00:

Block time is gate to gate, so it counts taxi at both ends. That is why two flights covering identical distance rarely share a scheduled duration.

MU5101 activity in the past 7 days

Our database contains 8 observations of MU5101 across 8 UTC dates in this window, most recently 2026-10-29. Those records contain 5 distinct transponder addresses.

The median recorded visibility was 25 minutes. That is time inside receiver coverage, not airborne duration or an on-time-performance measurement.

Date (UTC)RouteFirst trackedLast trackedTracked for
2026-10-29 tracked in flight 01:47 UTC 02:16 UTC 0h 29m
2026-10-28 tracked in flight 01:35 UTC 01:59 UTC 0h 24m
2026-10-27 tracked in flight 01:34 UTC 02:00 UTC 0h 26m
2026-10-26 tracked in flight 01:32 UTC 01:56 UTC 0h 24m
2026-10-25 tracked in flight 01:28 UTC 01:58 UTC 0h 30m
2026-10-24 tracked in flight 01:27 UTC 01:54 UTC 0h 26m
2026-10-23 tracked in flight 01:39 UTC 01:51 UTC 0h 12m
2026-10-22 tracked in flight 01:47 UTC 02:01 UTC 0h 14m

“First/last tracked” are when MU5101 entered and left receiver coverage, in UTC.

Airports and aircraft on MU5101

Every scheduled service we follow is listed in the tracker directory, including China Eastern Airlines and other tracked flights grouped by airline.

SHA Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport Shanghai, China · live radar →
PEK Beijing Capital International Airport Beijing, China · live radar →
A359 Airbus A350-900 Typical equipment · specs →

How much CO2 does MU5101 emit?

Worked from the great-circle distance and the fuel burn measured for Airbus A350-900, the aircraft normally flying this route. Carbon dioxide only - see the method below.

Distance flown1,076 km
AircraftAirbus A350-900
Fuel burn rate6.03 kg per km
Fuel burned6,488 kg
CO2, whole flight20.5 tonnes
Seats, typical layout300
Passengers carried249 at an 83% load factor
CO2 per passenger82 kg

Where that lands by cabin

The aircraft burns the same fuel whoever is aboard, so the cabins divide one total rather than each carrying their own. A seat's share is the floor it takes up, which is why an economy seat comes out below the 82 kg cabin average and a flat bed well above it.

Economy246 seats, 204 flown
60 kg CO2 per seat
Business45 seats, 37 flown
175 kg CO2 per seat
First9 seats, 7 flown
242 kg CO2 per seat

Taken whole, MU5101 emits what 342 trees take back out of the air in a year. One economy seat on it accounts for about the same carbon dioxide as driving a petrol car 484 km, or 2,353 km of the same journey by train.

How this is worked out. Fuel burn is read from published measurements of this type, taken at sectors of 9,208 km, 10,249 km and 12,116 km, all longer than this route, so the closest is held flat and the real figure is likely a little higher. It counts carbon dioxide only, and the cabin split assumes the layout typical of this size of aircraft. Read the full method, sources and caveats, or put MU5101 against another flight.

Other tracked flights from Shanghai

FlightRouteTypical aircraft
NH970Shanghai (SHA) → Tokyo (HND) Boeing 787-8 DreamlinerNH970 flight tracker →
MU9191Shanghai (SHA) → Beijing (PEK) COMAC C919MU9191 flight tracker →
CA1501Beijing (PEK) → Shanghai (SHA) Boeing 747-8ICA1501 flight tracker →

Guides relevant to MU5101

Chosen from this route's distance, timing, aircraft, airline and airports.

How airlines plan routes This short-haul sector shows how aircraft size and local demand shape a network.
Boeing versus Airbus The typical aircraft is built by Airbus; these visual clues help identify it.
Airline alliances explained China Eastern Airlines belongs to SkyTeam, which affects connections and codeshares.

Data sources and review

Reviewed 2026-07-29 by Flight-Tracker.net Editorial Team

The route and typical schedule are maintained reference data. Live ADS-B observations are evidence of receiver coverage, not proof of on-time performance. Always confirm the operating date and times with the airline.

Read our schedule and observation review process, or inspect the machine-readable reference dataset.

Put MU5101 on your own site

One script tag renders a live status card wherever you paste it. No iframe, no account, and it keeps working on its own.

MU5101 frequently asked questions

How long is the MU5101 flight?

Shanghai to Beijing is 1,076 km (668 miles) in a straight line, scheduled at 2.3 hours gate to gate. Actual airborne time varies with winds, routing and holding.

What aircraft operates MU5101?

Typically an Airbus A350-900 (full specifications), using roughly 7% of that type's published range.

Does MU5101 fly every day?

The published pattern is daily, departing 08:00 local from SHA. Always confirm with the airline before travelling.

Who else flies Shanghai to Beijing?

We track 2 scheduled services on this pairing, all operated by China Eastern Airlines. The others are MU9191. Against them, MU5101 stands out because it is the last departure of the day on this route; it is given 5 minutes more block time than the quickest scheduled service; it is the only one flown with an Airbus A350-900.

Can I track MU5101 live?

Yes. Whenever MU5101 is airborne and in receiver coverage the map above follows it live, with altitude, ground speed and heading. Between rotations, the seven-day log above shows where it has been.

More China Eastern Airlines flights to watch

FlightRouteTypical aircraft
MU522 Tokyo (NRT) → Shanghai (PVG) Airbus A330-300 MU522 flight tracker →
MU9191 Shanghai (SHA) → Beijing (PEK) COMAC C919 MU9191 flight tracker →
MU587 Shanghai (PVG) → New York (JFK) Boeing 777-300ER MU587 flight tracker →
MU551 Shanghai (PVG) → London (LHR) Airbus A350-900 MU551 flight tracker →
MU777 Shanghai (PVG) → Sydney (SYD) Airbus A350-900 MU777 flight tracker →