FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - United schedules more China routes, launching this winter (real?)
Old Mar 25, 2025 | 3:40 pm
  #8  
moondog
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Originally Posted by UA_Flyer
According to https://onemileatatime.com/

United plans to add the following flights to China and HK starting late October, 2025. These are not placeholder flights in the schedule as we had seen in the past.
  • Daily Chicago (ORD) to Beijing (PEK) flights, operated by Boeing 777-200ERs
  • Daily Chicago (ORD) to Shanghai (PVG) flights, operated by Boeing 787-8s
  • Daily Newark (EWR) to Beijing (PEK) flights, operated by Boeing 777-200ERs
  • Daily Newark (EWR) to Hong Kong (HKG) flights, operated by Boeing 777-300ERs
  • Daily Newark (EWR) to Shanghai (PVG) flights, operated by Boeing 777-200ERs
  • 3x weekly San Francisco (SFO) to Chengdu (CTU) flights, operated by Boeing 787-9s — note that CTU is listed as the airport code, but TFU is now the airport used for long haul flights
I have not following or visiting China for awhile, so cannot really assess there is enough demand. The best I can assume is United is optimistic a deal between Ukraine and Russian will be reached and Russian air space will be open again. No additional geopolitical tension between China and US, and additional slots will be granted by both sides. Regardless, there is a lot of seats to fill. I wonder whether this will reduce the number of China/HK flights out of LAX/SFO to make room/slots for these new services. I also note, IAD-PEK and ORD-HKG are not included on this list.

I know several Flyeralkers would not want to fly transcon from the East Coast to connect to/from China flights.
I am highly dubious (of them not being the same placeholder flights we've seen in the past). Remember, in order for UA to fly even a handful of those, the slot caps would need to be increased, which would result in competition that UA (and DL) really dislike.

Last edited by moondog; Mar 25, 2025 at 5:38 pm
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