United to fly direct between SFO and Manila by Oct

MANILA  -Filipinos will be able to fly between Manila and San Francisco (SFO) nonstop via United Airlines starting on Oct. 29 as the US carrier expands its Asia-Pacific network at a time of increasing demand for air travel.

The airline, which also operates nonstop services from Philippines to Guam and Palau, is set to launch the San Francisco-Manila route with daily operations in the fourth quarter when pickup in mobility is expected due to the holidays.

It will be the only US airline offering direct transpacific flights to the Philippines by then. However, it is still subject to government approval.

According to the carrier’s booking page, a roundtrip ticket for this flight can cost $1,392 (P75,883) for economy; $2,810 (P153,183), premium economy; and $5,570 (P303,640), business class. Passengers will have a travel time of 15 hours and 15 minutes.

Existing routes

Currently, it offers routes to San Francisco with stops in Tokyo, Osaka, Taipei, Seoul, Singapore or Guam and travel time as long as nearly 39 hours. Roundtrip ticket prices can range from $1,050 to $3,725 (P57,239 to P203,063) for economy; $2,496 to $4,506 (P136,066 to P245,638), premium economy; and $3,916 to $9,832 (P213,475 to P535,977), business class.

The new flight will be serviced by Boeing 777-300ER, which is the airline’s biggest jet. Its layout includes 60 seats in the business cabin; 24 seats in premium cabin; and 266 seats in economy section.

“With this new nonstop service, we will be able to offer our Manila customers not only the convenient daily nonstop service to San Francisco, but also more than 70 one-stop destinations in the mainland U.S., Canada and Latin America via our hub in San Francisco,” said Wally Dias, United regional director of sales for Greater China, Korea and Southeast Asia.

United is also set to increase or resume flights to Hong Kong, Tokyo and Taipei by October.

The US airline is beefing up its routes to Asia amid a forecast that the continent will drive the momentum of the global aviation sector this year, especially with the reopening of China’s borders.

Among local players, only Philippine Airlines (PAL) has direct flights to the United States, connecting Manila to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Honolulu.

“PAL has always embraced healthy competition among different players across our network,” the flag carrier said. INQ