United Airlines have announced that they are adding capacity to their San Francisco (SFO) to Hong Kong (HKG) service. The airline will take their once a day flights up to twice a day from October 26th, 2019, giving passengers more options and flight times to choose from.

United Airlines are doubling their capacity to the Far Eastern destination of Hong Kong. From October 26th onwards, United will operate a second daily flight between their hub in San Francisco and the thriving business city.

The additional service will mean there are now connections from SFO at lunchtime and late in the evening, and from HKG passengers can choose to fly early morning or in the evening. Clearly this is beneficial for business people traveling between the two locations, as they can still get a full day of work in at either end.

Speaking in a media release, United’s vice president of International Network, Patrick Quayle, said,

"The addition of a second daily nonstop flight between San Francisco and Hong Kong offers customers more flexibility and convenience when planning travel to one of the world's largest business markets. We look forward to offering customers a schedule that fits their travel needs with convenient times and greater connectivity to United's extensive and growing network."

What are the details?

United’s new scheduled service will begin on October 26th, 2019. The flight details are as follows:

  • UA877: Departs SFO at 23:05 Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, or at 22:50 on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. The flights arrive in HKG at 6:10 and 5:55 (+2 days) respectively.
  • UA878: Departs HKG at 22:30 every day, arriving in SFO at 18:50.

These new flights will complement the existing United Airlines flights to Hong Kong, UA869 and UA862. These flights leave SFO daily at 13:15, arriving at HKG at 20:20(+1 day) and make the return trip at 12:20, arriving in SFO at 08:35.

SFO to HKG
Flight time on the SFO to HKG route is around 12 hours. Image: GCMap

All the flights will use United’s Boeing 777-200ER from October. Currently the one a day service is operated by a 777-300ER, so in reality they aren’t quite doubling capacity, as the planes will be slightly smaller. Nevertheless, it’s great to see United adding options for travelers along this busy route.

According to Flight Global, adding these flights gives United the second highest frequency of flights between the two cities. Cathay Pacific operates the route three times a day, being the only carrier to run the service more frequently than United. Singapore operate HKG to SFO daily, and Hong Kong Airlines four times per week.

cathay-pacific-hk-express
Cathay Pacific sees HK Express as complementary to its full-service offering. Photo: Cathay Pacific

More expansion planned for SFO

United are doing lots over at San Francisco, having already launched a number of new routes this year. These include starting a nonstop service to Amsterdam, as well as extending their Tahiti and Auckland services to all year round. As well as this, United began a second daily service to Seoul and added twice a day services to Toronto.

But they aren’t stopping there. From October, United are launching seasonal services to Melbourne nonstop, and a new seasonal service to Delhi too. This gives the airline connections to 29 international locations from SFO, running more than 300 flights every day.