United has announced plans to resume its San Francisco-Hong Kong service. This will mark the airline’s return to Hong Kong for the first time since the onset of COVID-19 pandemic.
As of 3rd March 2023, United will once again operate daily flights between San Francisco International Airport and Hong Kong International Airport with the following schedule:
- San Francisco-Hong Kong
- Departure time: 22:40
- Arrival time: 06:00 (+2 days)
- Flight time: 15 hours and 20 minutes
- Flight number: UA877
- Frequency: Daily
- Note: This flight will not operate on 4th March 2023
- Hong Kong-San Francisco
- Departure time: 12:20
- Arrival time: 08:45
- Flight time: 12 hours and 25 minutes
- Flight number: UA862
- Frequency: Daily
- Note: This flight resumes on 6th March 2023
These flights will be operated by United’s Boeing B777-300ER aircraft featuring 60 Polaris Business Class seats, 24 Premium Plus seats (Premium Economy seats) and 266 standard Economy Class seats.
We’re thrilled to be able to return to Hong Kong after nearly three years enabling us to provide our Hong Kong customers with our convenient daily nonstop service to San Francisco again. Our early-morning San Francisco arrival time and late-evening San Francisco departure time will offer more than 70 one-stop destinations in the mainland US, Canada and Latin America via our hub in San Francisco. We have nearly 40 years of long history in the Hong Kong market and our commitment to the market remains unchanged.
said Walter Dias, Regional Director of Sales for Greater China, Korea and Southeast Asia, United.
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United will compete with Cathay Pacific on San Francisco-Hong Kong route. The latter too operates the route with a B777-300ER. Delta suspended Hong Kong operations in 2018 in favour of launching flights to Osaka, Japan while American Airlines is yet to announce plans of its return to Hong Kong.
For now, United will be the only U.S.-based airline on the route. The resumption of this route by the airline signals the confidence of United in Hong Kong market.
It’s great to see long-haul flights to Hong Kong coming back up on the map, as Hong Kong has been of the strictest with its COVID restrictions and in the eventual reopening of the market. It is one of the slowest markets to reopen.
Now, with the rise in cases of BF.7 variant, it remains to be seen whether Hong Kong will continue to see the reopening it has mapped out or whether it will have to slow down its reopening. This will have a direct effect on international airlines such as United who have been plotting a return to the market.
Meanwhile, United recently placed the largest wide-body aircraft order with Boeing in the history of the United States.
Featured image by United
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