United Airlines is continuing the robust expansion of its transpacific flying, unveiling a new direct, year-round service from its San Francisco hub to Philippine capital Manila.
The carrier currently operates flights with Boeing 737 narrowbodies to Manila from Guam and Palau’s Koror Airai Airport, said United SVP of Global Network Planning and Alliances Patrick Quayle during a July 17 media briefing.
United’s new route, beginning Oct. 29 and operated using a Boeing 777-300ER, will be the only direct service to Manila from the U.S. offered by an American carrier. Quayle said there is a “ton of traffic” between the U.S. and the Philippines. “All that traffic has to connect somewhere, or that traffic has to fly the Filipino flag-carrier.”
Schedule data from CAPA – Centre for Aviation shows that Philippine Airlines operates to four U.S. destinations: Honolulu, Los Angeles, New York JFK, and San Francisco.
Chicago-based United has additional changes planned for its Asia-Pacific network. On Oct. 28, it is adding daily, year-round service from Los Angeles to Hong Kong operated with a 787-9, which will complement its existing Hong Kong-San Francisco service. Over the Northern Hemisphere winter, United will operate a total of three daily flights to Hong Kong from those two airports.
Due to the inability to overfly Russia triggered by the Russia-Ukraine war, United will not restore service between New Jersey’s Newark International Airport and Hong Kong. If United could restore Newark-Hong Kong service efficiently, it would add that service alongside the new flights to Hong Kong from Los Angeles, Quayle said. “So for now, it will be LA-Hong Kong,” he said, adding that “resolution with Russia” would help facilitate United resuming direct flights from Newark to Hong Kong.
The airline is also planning to restore service from Los Angeles to Tokyo Narita in late October, which will join existing flights to Tokyo Haneda. “For the first time ever, we’re going to have two daily flights from Tokyo to Los Angeles,” Quayle said. United said the flights will be split between a single daily flight to each of the Tokyo airports.
Quayle explained it has always been in United’s plan to offer double daily service from Los Angeles to the Tokyo metro area. Haneda, he said, offers good domestic connections, while Narita is more favorable for connectivity into Southeast Asia. If customers are looking to connect to a point in Southeast Asia, they will select Narita, Quayle said, and “if they’re doing business in Japan or Tokyo specifically, my guess is they’re going to book a flight on the Haneda route.”
United is rounding out its Asian expansion through the addition of a second daily fight from San Francisco to Taipei, Taiwan, which is also commencing in late October.
The latest push follows United adding raft of transpacific flights over the past year. In total, United is adding long-haul flights to 15 different Asia-Pacific destinations across the U.S. winter season. Excluding operations to China, United said its transpacific network during that period will be 50% larger than all other U.S. airlines combined.
During the current summer season in the Northern Hemisphere, United said it is operating a transatlantic schedule that is 32% larger than 2019.
The CAPA database shows that for the week of July 17, 52% of United’s available seat kilometers (ASKs) are deployed in the domestic market and international markets represent 48%. For Delta Air Lines, the ASK split is 62.5% into domestic and 37.5% into international operations. Domestic routes represent 63.5% of American Airline’s ASKs, and 36% of the airline’s capacity is deployed into international markets.
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