United Airlines Boosting Pacific Network with New Routes

United Airlines is expanding its routes in the Pacific.

The airline announced Tuesday that it will have new or expanded routes to Tokyo, Taipei, Hong Kong and Manila.

United already flies to Manila, but not directly. On October 29, it will start direct service to the Philippines’ capital from San Francisco International Airport.

“We will be the first U.S. airline to ever have service between the mainland United States and the Philippines,” United Senior Vice President of global network planning and alliances Patrick Quayle said during a conference call.

A day earlier in October, the airline will start daily service from Los Angeles to Hong Kong. At the present time, United said it will have to continue its postponement of a flight to Hong Kong from the New York market at Newark Airport, because of the war in Ukraine.

Quayle said the flight will be reinstated when the hostilities end, because it currently flies over Russian airspace.

Also in late October, United will resume flights from Los Angeles to Tokyo Narita Airport. United currently flies to Haneda Airport in Tokyo and that will not change.

“For the first time, we will have two daily flights between Tokyo and Los Angeles,” Quayle said. “Think of Haneda like LaGuardia, right in the middle of the city and super easy to get to, but it has good domestic connectivity. Think of Narita a bit like JFK or Newark, where there is much more connectivity into the region of Southeast Asia.”

Finally, the airline is adding a second flight from San Francisco to Taipei starting on October 29.

Quayle said that most of the travel is VFF, or visiting friends and family, but he does see business travel coming back. Hence, it is one of the reasons why United is expanding its flight network to major Asian destinations.