United Airlines has announced that it will be adding Tokyo Haneda to its network with a daily non-stop service from its base in San Francisco (SFO).
Subject to government approval, the US-based carrier is looking to launch the route on October 26, making Haneda the 10th trans-Pacific destination it serves non-stop from SFO, and its third new Asia-Pacific port this year, after Taipei and Chengdu.
Flight UA875 will depart SFO everyday at 1835 and arrive at Haneda the following day at 2205. Meanwhile, the return leg will see flight UA876 take off from Haneda at 0005, and touch down at SFO at 1715 the previous day, after crossing the International Date Line.
Flight times will be approximately 11 hours and 30 minutes westbound, and 9 hours and 10 minutes eastbound. The carrier will serve the route with a Boeing 777 with 269 seats in a three-class configuration. There will be eight seats in first class, 40 in business, and 221 in economy, with 104 of them being economy plus.
United currently flies to Tokyo-Narita three times daily, and believes that the Haneda service would offer its customers better flexibility and convenience when flying into the Japanese capital. In addition, the carrier maintains a close join-venture tie with All Nippon Airways (ANA), which would provide connections to onward destinations within Asia-Pacific.
For instance, passengers could fly to Haneda through UA875, and connect to ANA's NH843 to Singapore which departs at 2350 – an acceptable two-hour layover. It should be noted that United does not offer a direct service to Singapore from SFO, and normally uses Tokyo-Narita as a connection hub to the Lion City.
For more information, visit www.united.com
Clement Huang
