Star Alliance carrier United Airlines is operating some lengthy routes these days, taking its fleet of 787 Dreamliners both transpacific and transatlantic. Indeed, the airline's longest service has an average outbound duration of more than 16 hours. So, with multiple hubs scattered across the continental United States, this article will take an in-depth look at United Airlines' five longest routes by distance.

Two common themes for all routes

While we've added a special note in other articles of this series regarding airspace bans, United Airlines' list of lengthy services don't seem to be impacted by such bans. The carrier does operate routes that must avoid Russian and Ukrainian airspace (namely as Newark-Delhi), but this service fails to make our 'top five' list in terms of straightline distance.

Another interesting aspect of this list is that all routes rely on the Boeing 787-9. With a published range of 14,010 km (8,705 miles), the longest route certainly takes the aircraft to its operational limits, perhaps even requiring restrictions on payload on the way out.

Of the over 70 Boeing 787s in the United Airlines fleet, there are currently 38 of the midsize -9 variant. This number could change in the future but for now, the carrier seems to be prioritizing the delivery of 787-10s. ch-aviation.com lists the airline as expecting 100 more Dreamliners, with variants yet to be specified. All of United Airlines' Boeing 787s are powered by General Electric GENX-1B76 engines.

As for the seating configuration of this particular variant, it appears that there is a single standard layout. The United Airlines Boeing 787-9, is configured with 48 seats in business class (known as Polaris), 21 seats for its premium economy cabin (known as Premium Plus), and 188 seats in economy class. Economy class, while a single level of service, can have its cabin further divided, as there are 39 extra-legroom seats (Economy Plus), with the remaining 149 being standard economy class seats.

Get all the latest aviation news right here on Simple Flying.

#5. San Francisco - Melbourne (UA60/61)

• Direct distance: 12,638 km (7,853 miles)
• Average duration outbound: 15 hours and 27 minutes
• Average flight duration inbound: 13 hours and 24 minutes
• Aircraft type used: Boeing 787-9

Starting with the fifth-longest service we have San Francisco to Melbourne. This transpacific service is scheduled to depart San Francisco at 23:30 daily and arrive in Melbourne at 08:15.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the route was first announced in December 2018 with the service launching nearly a year later, at the end of October 2019. While this began as a three-times weekly service, it now operates once daily. As reported by the Australian media outlet, Joe D'Alessandro, President and CEO of San Francisco Travel stated at the time, "There are many synergies between Melbourne and San Francisco and this new direct United Airlines route will only strengthen that connection and further encourage travel between the two cities."

The pandemic resulted in this route being suspended for about two years, but has since been reinstated. The airline said that it had worked closely with the Victorian government to get the service back up and running. Finally, in June 2022, United re-launched its San Francisco-Melbourne service with three weekly flights.

#4. Los Angeles - Melbourne (UA98/99)

• Direct distance: 12,746 km (7,920 miles)
• Average duration outbound: 15 hours and 31 minutes
• Average flight duration inbound: 13 hours and 21 minutes
• Aircraft type used: Boeing 787-9

United began offering service to Melbourne from Los Angeles in 2014. The airline initially announced the launch of the route in February 2014, with the inaugural service taking place late October that same year. The route first began as a six times weekly service, but now appears to have been trimmed down to three flights per week.

Deploying the Boeing 787-9 on this route in 2014 was an exciting step for the airline. Indeed, United was the North American launch customer for the 787-9, and the carrier's Los Angeles-Melbourne service was the very first international deployment for the Dreamliner variant. "We are excited about using the newest version of the Dreamliner, the 787-9, to provide nonstop trans-Pacific service to Melbourne," said Jim Compton, United's vice chairman and chief revenue officer at the time.

Just like San Francisco-Melbourne, flights UA98/99 were suspended during the pandemic. Service between Los Angeles and Melbourne only resumed somewhat recently, with the first flight back taking place in October 2022.

#3. Washington Dulles - Cape Town (UA2222/2223)

• Direct distance: 12,751 km (7,923 miles)
• Average duration outbound: 13 hours and 48 minutes
• Average flight duration inbound: 15 hours and 20 minutes
• Aircraft type used: Boeing 787-9

Quite interestingly, this route only beats out Los Angeles-Melbourne by three miles, at least if going by straightline distance. Thus, it's safe to say that variance in routing could see LAX-MEL as a longer service than IAD-CPT.

With one of the more interesting flight numbers, United's Dulles to Cape Town service was launched post-pandemic. The inaugural service took place on November 17th, 2022 and received a hearty welcome from local officials upon arrival in the South African city. The route was announced in late July 2022 and was notably the first airline to fly non-stop between Washington D.C. and Cape Town. As part of the carrier's July 2022 announcement, Patrick Quayle, United's Senior Vice President of Global Network Planning and Alliances, stated:

"These new flights build upon our existing year-round New York/Newark to Cape Town service – together they'll provide a near-daily pattern from the US to Cape Town along with connectivity to the broader region through our Airlink partnership."

#2. Newark - Johannesburg (UA188/187)

• Direct distance: 12,855 km (7,988 miles)
• Average duration outbound: 13 hours and 46 minutes
• Average flight duration inbound: 15 hours and 35 minutes
• Aircraft type used: Boeing 787-9

The new route was highlighted as one of Simple Flying's six most-anticipated routes from US carriers for 2021, coming in 2nd place on our list. Initially, this service was scheduled to commence on March 27th, 2021, but United pushed the date back to June 4th. Launched as a daily service, the flight from Newark to Johannesburg departs at 21:05 local time, arriving the next day at 17:45 the next day. It then departs Johannesburg at 20:00 local time to arrive back at Newark at 05:50.

#1. San Francisco - Singapore (UA1/2 & UA28/29)

• Direct distance: 13,583 km (8,440 miles)
• Average duration outbound: 16 hours and 03 minutes
• Average flight duration inbound: 14 hours and 23 minutes
• Aircraft type used: Boeing 787-9

United Airlines' longest route is quite unique in that it is also operated twice daily. UA29 is the first to depart San Francisco at 11:20 local time, with UA1 taking off nearly 11-and-a-half hours later at 22:55.

When it was first announced in January 2016, the carrier boasted that it was the "longest scheduled 787 flight operated by any airline and the longest scheduled flight operated by any U.S. carrier." Although the pandemic meant that the route had to be suspended for nearly two years, a once-daily service returned in January 2022, with double-daily being reinstated later in the year.

Have you flown on any of these routes before? What do you think of the Boeing 787-9 as the carrier's aircraft of choice? Share your thoughts and experiences by leaving a comment!

Sources: Cirium, FlightRadar24.com, Planespotters.net, ch-aviation.com, Sydney Morning Herald

• 

  United Airlines

  Region:

  North America

  Loyalty Program:

  MileagePlus