By Aviacionline
Pacific Revival: United Opens New Destinations, Resumes Routes and Expands Services
United is now the largest airline between North America and Asia-Pacific; as several countries in the region open their borders the U.S. carrier has added new destinations, resumed routes suspended in the wake of the pandemic and expanded existing services thanks to increased passenger demand.
The company has reestablished most of its operations in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and Taiwan and is resuming operations to Japan and South Korea due to the progressive reopening of its borders. Despite mainland China and Hong Kong services are still largely suspended or in a much-reduced operation, United has quickly added more capacity within the rest of the region.
Last Friday (28), United landed in Brisbane (BNE) with a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner-operated service, the carrier’s third destination in Australia and the second North American carrier to offer a nonstop route to Queensland.
Recently, United partnered with Virgin Australia which allows its passengers to make domestic connections on its Australian destinations and earn enhanced mileage redemption benefits in frequent flyer programs.
Flight Itinerary
- San Francisco – Brisbane Flight UA 96 SFO 23:30 – BNE 06:30+2 Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
- Brisbane – San Francisco Flight UA 97 BNE 10:30 – SFO 06:40 Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
Resumption of service in Australia
United resumes two services in Australia suspended due to the pandemic, both of which last operated in March 2020. For this northern winter season, the airline will offer up to three connections to Sydney (SYD) and two from Melbourne (MEL).
The carrier resumed its longest flight on the Houston (IAH) – Sydney (SYD) service, a 13,834 kilometers and 17 hours and 35 minutes route. It is operated on Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft and is the only non-stop airline connection between Texas and the South Pacific.
Flight Itinerary
- Houston – Sydney Flight UA 101 IAH 21:15 – SYD 07:00+2 Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
- Sydney – Houston Flight UA 100 SYD 10:20 – IAH 10:00 Tuesday, Friday and Sunday.
From December 15 this service will increase to daily flights.
On addition to the Sydney route, the carrier has resumed operations between Los Angeles (LAX) – Melbourne (MEL), this service complements its daily service from San Francisco (SFO). Both routes are operated on Boeing 787-9 aircraft.
Flight Itinerary
- Los Angeles – Melbourne Flight UA 98 LAX 22:35 – MEL 08:30+2 Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
- Melbourne – Los Angeles Flight UA 99 MEL 10:30 – LAX 06:45 Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
From December 15 this service will increase to daily flights.
More flights to New Zealand
On October 28, United also resumed daily flights between San Francisco (SFO) and Auckland (AKL), operated on Boeing 777-200ERs. This represents an 86.8% recovery of seat capacity from pre-pandemic levels.
Flight Itinerary
- San Francisco – Auckland Flight UA 917 SFO 22:55 – AKL 08:10+2 daily flights.
- Auckland – San Francisco Flight UA 916 AKL 14:50 – SFO 07:05 daily flights.
The carrier resumed its second daily operation between San Francisco (SFO) and Singapore (SIN), fully restoring the seat capacity offered prior to the pandemic. United is the only U.S. carrier operating at Changi International Airport (SIN).
Flight Itinerary
San Francisco (SFO) – Singapore (SIN)
- Flight UA 01 SFO 22:45 – SIN 07:00+2 daily flights.
- Flight UA 29 SFO 11:40 – SIN 20:15+1 daily flights.
Singapore (SIN) – San Francisco (SFO)
- Flight UA 02 SIN 10:15 – SFO 09:50 daily flights.
- Flight UA 28 SIN 22:20 – SFO 22:20 daily flights.
All services are operated by Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft.
This article was originally published by Rainer Nieves Dolande on Aviacionline in syndication with AirlineGeeks
