United Airlines has announced plans to resume its first passengers flights to Hong Kong since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The first westbound service from San Francisco to Hong Kong will depart on March 3, 2023, with the first eastbound flight departing on March 6. For operational reasons there will be no westbound flight on March 4.
The daily nonstop route will be operated by the carrier’s B777-300ER aircraft, configured with 60 seats in Polaris business class, 24 in Premium Plus and 266 in economy.
Schedules are as follows:
- Flight UA877 will depart San Francisco at 2240, arriving into Hong Kong at 0600 two days later
- Flight UA862 will depart Hong Kong at 1220, arriving into San Francisco at 0845 the same day
United will rejoin Cathay Pacific on the San Francisco-Hong Kong route.
Rival US carrier American Airlines has yet to announce plans to return to Hong Kong, while Delta has not operated flights to the Chinese Special Administrative Region since 2018, when it ceased service from Seattle.
Commenting on the news Walter Dias, United’s regional director of sales for Greater China, Korea and Southeast Asia, said:
“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.”
British Airways resumed flights to Hong Kong earlier this month, but Virgin Atlantic recently announced its was axing its Heathrow-Hong Kong service after almost 30 years of operations.
