United Airlines will launch the longest Boeing 787 flight in the world this June, with new nonstop service between its San Francisco hub and Singapore.
The Chicago-based Star Alliance carrier will operate the 7,339nm (8,446 miles) route daily with a 252-seat 787-9, it says. Eastbound flights are scheduled at 15h 30min and westbound flights at 16h 20min.
“We are very excited about introducing nonstop flights between San Francisco and Singapore,” says Marcel Fuchs, vice-president of Atlantic and Pacific sales at United, in a statement. “This long-awaited service… will offer unique benefits to customers traveling between our west coast hub at San Francisco and Singapore.”
United’s new San Francisco-Singapore route will replace its Tokyo Narita-Singapore route, which it added with the acquisition of Pan Am’s Pacific network in 1986. It will continue to offer passengers connections to Singapore at Tokyo Narita via its joint venture partner All Nippon Airways (ANA).
The US carrier will continue to operate Hong Kong-Singapore flights, it says.
Singapore joins Auckland, Tel Aviv and Xi’an in the list of new nonstop destinations United will add from San Francisco, which it calls the “premier” gateway to Asia Pacific, in 2016.
The US carrier will offer nonstop flights to 13 Asia Pacific destinations from San Francisco with the addition of Singapore, up from just seven when it merged with Continental Airlines in 2010.
No airlines fly nonstop between the USA and Singapore, however, Singapore Airlines plans to relaunch nonstop flights to Los Angeles and New York when it begins taking delivery of Airbus A350-900ULRs in 2018.
LONGEST ROUTE
United will continue to hold the title for the longest 787 flight with new San Francisco-Singapore service. The route will replace the carrier's Los Angeles-Melbourne route at 6,905nm as the longest for the Dreamliner, Innovata FlightMaps Analytics shows.
Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi-Brisbane route at 6,488nm will be the third longest and American Airlines Dallas/Fort Worth-Shanghai Pudong at 6,392nm will be the fourth longest 787 routes, according to Innovata.
Emirates Airline's new Auckland-Dubai flight, coming in at 7,668nm, will retain the title of the world's longest route when it begins in March. Emirates Dubai-Panama City route at 7,466nm will be second longest and Qantas Airways Sydney-Dallas/Fort Worth route at 7,454nm will be third.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
