United Airlines to resume popular Asian route from SFO

After a three-year delay, United Airlines' San Francisco-Hong Kong route is prepping for takeoff.

Two daily flights between both cities are now scheduled and bookable beginning March 3. United initially expected to have the route running in February before it was pushed back by a month.

Upon resuming direct flights to Hong Kong in January, United will become the first U.S. carrier to fly to the city since 2020. The airline's schedule returns to a frequency last offered in October 2019, when the first stages of the pandemic caused travel suspension.

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Cathay Pacific, an international airline whose hub is located in Hong Kong, is currently the only airline offering service to the city. Cathay Pacific flies once daily to San Francisco, but those frequencies are expected to increase to three daily flights beginning March 26.

United carried roughly 221,000 round-trip passengers between San Francisco and Hong Kong in 2019, according to data from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Nearly 118,000 of those passengers were point-to-point, only traveling between the two cities. Additionally, United had about a 30% share of the point-to-point market.

The resurgence of the San Francisco-Hong Kong route comes after nearly three years of quarantine restriction, as travel demand is increasing.

In 2019, travel to Asia accounted for 46% of international traffic at San Francisco International Airport. Hong Kong was SFO's second-most popular international destination, bested only by London.