United Increases Sydney to San Francisco To 10 Weekly Flights

United Airlines will boost its daily Sydney-San Francisco direct flight schedule to ten weekly flights with the addition of three additional weekly seasonal services beginning 14 December 2022 and ending 8 February 2023 with Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.

The increased flight schedule will consolidate United Airlines’ leading in total service to Australia and provide United with more seats from the United States to Australia during the Northern Hemisphere winter season than any other carrier.

On 28 October, the airline will begin direct flights from Brisbane to San Francisco, giving nonstop services from three major Australian cities: San Francisco from Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney; Los Angeles from Melbourne and Sydney; and Sydney-Houston.

United will also expand its current thrice-weekly Melbourne-San Francisco connection to a daily frequency beginning on 28 October.

Except for the San Francisco-Sydney route, all Australian routes are operated by Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.

“United has a strong history servicing Australia, and with our new codeshare partnership with Virgin Australia, the future is even brighter,” said Patrick Quayle, Senior Vice President of Global Network Planning & Alliances at United.

“With high demand for the forthcoming northern winter season, we’re excited to provide more travel alternatives for our clients in the United States and Australia.”

The ‘three gateway’ strategy of San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Houston “provides Virgin clients with significantly more travel via one stop to nearly everywhere in North or South America,” according to Quayle. “Because of United’s extensive network, they don’t have to double- or even triple-connect.” It’s a huge victory for Virgin.”

Travellers now have a wide range of connections, including around 37 from Los Angeles, 65 from San Francisco, and more than 100 from Houston – “and that’s just the internal US,” Quayle concludes.