United Airlines to launch non-stop service to San Francisco from June

UNITED Airlines (UA) will launch a daily non-stop flight from Singapore to San Francisco from June 3, making it the only airline to offer a non-stop service from the city-state to the United States at present.

The airline will use the Boeing 787-9 - better known as the Dreamliner - to operate the service.

According to UA, the Singapore-San Francisco service will be the longest scheduled 787 flight operated by any airline at 13,593 kilometres.

"We are very excited about introducing nonstop flights between Singapore and San Francisco," said Marcel Fuchs, United's vice-president of Atlantic & Pacific sales. "This long-awaited service has been made possible by the newest version of our customer-pleasing Boeing 787 Dreamliner, and will offer unique benefits to customers traveling from Singapore not only to San Francisco, but also to dozens of other cities across the Americas via our San Francisco hub."

Singapore Airlines, which has ordered the A350-Ultra Long Range aircraft, will launch direct flights to New York and Los Angeles from 2018, it announced last year.

Flight UA2 will depart Changi Airport at 8.45am daily, arriving at San Francisco International Airport at 9.15am the same day. The return flight, UA1, will depart San Francisco at 11.25pm daily, arriving in Singapore at 6.45am two days later (local time). Flying times will be approximately 15 hours, 30 minutes eastbound and 16 hours, 20 minutes westbound - saving up to about four hours each way compared to a one-stop service.

United has timed the new flights so passengers can connect at San Francisco for onward services throughout the US, Canada and Latin America. With this new service, United will provide a one-stop service between Singapore and more than 40 US cities, including over 25 cities that do not have one-stop service from Singapore currently.

United will terminate service between Singapore and Tokyo's Narita Airport from June 2. However, passengers can still fly to Narita by using daily flights on ANA, United's trans-Pacific joint venture partner.