United Airlines is to drop its short-lived Los Angeles-Singapore route, in favour of a second daily San Francisco-Singapore service.
Launched in October 2017, the US carrier’s LAX-Singapore route became the longest nonstop flight operating to or from the US, as well as the longest Dreamliner route in the world.
But the service will cease on October 27 after exactly a year in operation, with the aircraft being rostered onto a second daily frequency between San Francisco and Singapore.
The second service means United will offer morning and evening departures from both San Francisco and Singapore.
In a statement provided to Business Traveller the carrier said:
“We heard from our customers that while they appreciated the nonstop service between Los Angeles and Singapore, many desired alternative departure and arrival times. By adjusting the schedule to twice-daily service between San Francisco and Singapore, we can now offer customers traveling between the US and Singapore more choice with optimal departure and arrival times to meet their needs.
“The schedule for San Francisco-Singapore #2 now offers customers a morning departure and evening arrival to Singapore as well as an evening departure from Singapore and evening arrival into San Francisco. In addition to providing more schedule options for our customers, the new frequency will utilize our premium morning San Francisco bank and enable nearly 20 new one-stop connections from destinations throughout North America and will connect Singapore customers to nearly 80 cities throughout the US, including Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Dallas.”
The carrier will also no doubt have been aware of forthcoming increased competition on the LAX-Singapore route. In late May Singapore Airlines announced plans to launch flights between Singapore and Los Angeles using its new A350-900ULR aircraft, although exact details have yet to be confirmed.
SIA also operates a daily service on the Singapore-San Francisco route.
