United Airlines announced over the weekend that it will resume services between San Francisco and Beijing, as well as upgrade the frequency of flights to Shanghai.
Services between the U.S west coast airport and the Chinese capital will begin in November, and the up gauge in flights to Shanghai will go to daily from October 1.
It is understood that the San Francisco-Beijing route is still subject to government approval at this time.
Beijing & Shanghai From San Francisco: An Important Reinstatement…
Commenting on the route reinstatement of San Francisco-Beijing as well as the upgrade in frequencies on the Shanghai route was Patrick Quayle, the Senior VP of Global Network Planning & Alliances at United Airlines:
“We are grateful for this positive step forward in U.S. – China passenger air services, and we thank the many officials from both countries who partnered to make this reinstatement of air service possible”.
“This announcement is good news for United customers because we believe that a daily flight to Beijing and a daily flight to Shanghai from San Francisco is consistent with the demand we see in the market right now – especially since our ability to serve China nonstop from our mid-continent hubs or the East Coast is severely limited by Russian overflight restrictions.”
On a political note, this does indicate a positive step in the right direction in terms of overall trade tensions ongoing between the U.S and China.
However, more work is needed, especially on the air services front if U.S carriers like United wish to penetrate the market further.
