Star Alliance carrier United Airlines is operating some lengthy routes these days,
taking its fleet of 787 Dreamliners both transpacific and transatlantic. Indeed,
the airline's longest service has an average outbound duration of more than 16 hours. So,
with multiple hubs scattered across the continental United States, this video will take
an in-depth look at United Airlines' five longest routes by distance - so, let’s get started!
This is actually the 4th examination of it’s kind but the first time we’ve adapted such a
piece into a video. WIth previous airlines and their longest routes,
we’ve had to add a special note regarding airspace bans. However, United Airlines'
list of lengthy services don't seem to be impacted by such bans. The carrier does operate
routes that must avoid Russian and Ukrainian airspace (namely its Newark-Delhi service),
but this one fails to make our 'top five' list in terms of straightline distance.
It is worth emphasizing, however, that this list uses straightline
distance and doesn’t factor in routings that might be a little more indirect.
Another interesting aspect of this particular list is that all routes rely on a single
aircraft type and variant. Just like how Delta Air Lines’ top-5 routes all utilized
the Airbus A350-900, all of United’s longest routes deploy the Boeing 787-9.
With the 787-9’s published range of 14,010 km (8,705 miles),
the longest route certainly takes the aircraft to its operational limits,
perhaps even requiring restrictions on payload in certain directions!
Of the over 70 Boeing 787s in the United Airlines fleet, there are currently 38
of the midsize -9 variant. This number could change in the future but for now,
the carrier seems to be prioritizing the delivery of 787-10s. ch-aviation.com lists the airline
as expecting 100 more Dreamliners, with variants yet to be specified.
All of United Airlines' Boeing 787s are powered by General Electric G.E.N.X. dash 1B engine.
As for the seating configuration of this particular variant,
it appears that there is a single standard layout. The United Airlines
Boeing 787-9 is configured with 48 seats in business class (known as Polaris),
21 seats for its premium economy cabin (known as Premium Plus), and 188 seats in economy class.
Economy class, while being a single level of service,
can have its cabin further divided, as there are 39 extra-legroom seats (Economy Plus),
with the remaining 149 being standard economy class seats.
So that’s all the background. Let’s now move on to the actual routes!
#5 is San Francisco - Melbourne (flights UA60/61)
This route has a Direct distance: 12,638 km (7,853 miles)
It’s Average duration outbound is 15 hours and 27 minutes while its
Average flight duration inbound is 13 hours and 24 minutes.
This transpacific service is currently scheduled to depart San Francisco at
23:30 daily and arrive in Melbourne at 08:15.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the route was first announced in December
2018 with the service launching nearly a year later, at the end of October 2019.
While this began as a three-times weekly service, it now operates once daily.
As reported by the Australian media outlet, Joe D'Alessandro,
President and CEO of San Francisco Travel stated at the time, "There are many synergies between
Melbourne and San Francisco and this new direct United Airlines route will
only strengthen that connection and further encourage travel between the two cities."
The pandemic resulted in this route being suspended for about two years,
but has since been reinstated. The airline said that it had worked closely with the
Victorian government to get the service back up and running. Finally, in June 2022,
United re-launched its San Francisco-Melbourne service with three weekly flights.
#4 is Los Angeles - Melbourne, with flight numbers UA98/99.
This route has a Direct distance: 12,746 km (7,920 miles)
While it’s Average duration outbound is 15 hours and 31 minutes.
Its Average flight duration inbound is 13 hours and 21 minutes.
United began offering service to Melbourne from Los Angeles
in 2014. The airline initially announced the launch of the route in February of that year,
with the inaugural service taking place months later, in late October. The route first began
as a six times weekly service, but now appears to have been trimmed down to three flights per week.
Deploying the Boeing 787-9 on this route nearly a decade ago,
it was an exciting step for the airline. Indeed, United was the North American
launch customer for the 787-9, and the carrier's Los Angeles-Melbourne
service was the very first international deployment for the Dreamliner variant.
"We are excited about using the newest version of the Dreamliner,
the 787-9, to provide nonstop trans-Pacific service to Melbourne," said Jim Compton,
United's vice chairman and chief revenue officer at the time.
Just like San Francisco-Melbourne, flights UA98/99 were suspended during
the pandemic. Service between Los Angeles and Melbourne only resumed somewhat recently,
with the first flight back taking place in October 2022.
#3 is Washington Dulles - Cape Town with flight numbers UA2222/2223.
This route has a Direct distance: 12,751 km (7,923 miles)
Its Average duration outbound is 13 hours and 48
minutes and its Average flight duration inbound is 15 hours and 20 minutes.
Quite interestingly, this route only beats out Los Angeles-Melbourne by three miles,
at least if going by straightline distance. Thus, it's safe to say
that variance in routing could see LAX-MEL as a longer service than IAD-CPT on some days.
With one of the more interesting flight numbers,
United's Dulles to Cape Town service was launched post-pandemic.
The inaugural service took place on November 17th, 2022 and received a hearty welcome from local
officials upon arrival in the South African city. The route was announced in late July
2022 and was notably the first airline to fly non-stop between Washington D.C. and Cape Town.
As part of the carrier's July 2022 announcement, Patrick Quayle,
United's Senior Vice President of Global Network Planning and Alliances, stated:
"These new flights build upon our existing year-round New York/Newark to Cape Town
service – together they'll provide a near-daily pattern from the US to Cape
Town along with connectivity to the broader region through our Airlink partnership."
At #2 we have another service to South Africa:
Newark - Johannesburg. These have flight numbers UA188/187.
This route has a Direct distance: 12,855 km (7,988 miles) and see an Average duration outbound of 13
hours and 46 minutes, and an Average flight duration inbound of 15 hours and 35 minutes.
The new route was highlighted as one of Simple Flying's six most-anticipated
routes from US carriers for 2021, coming in 2nd place on our list at the time.
Initially, this service was scheduled to commence on March 27th, 2021, but United pushed the date
back to June 4th of the same year. Launched as a daily service, the flight from Newark
to Johannesburg departs at 21:05 local time, arriving the next day at 17:45 the next day. It
then departs Johannesburg at 20:00 local time to arrive back at Newark at 05:50.
Finally, at #1, we have San Francisco - Singapore. These have flight numbers UA1/2 & UA28/29.
The Direct distance is 13,583 km (8,440 miles) while the Average
duration outbound is 16 hours and 03 minutes.
The Average flight duration inbound is 14 hours and 23 minutes.
United Airlines' longest route is quite unique among the others in that it is
operated twice daily. UA29 is the first to depart San Francisco at 11:20 local time,
with UA1 taking off nearly 11-and-a-half hours later at 22:55.
When it was first announced in January 2016,
the carrier boasted that it was the quote "longest scheduled 787 flight operated by
any airline and the longest scheduled flight operated by any U.S. carrier."
Although the pandemic meant that the route had to be suspended for nearly two years, a
once-daily service returned in January 2022, with double-daily being reinstated later in the year.
Have you flown on any of these routes before? What do you think of the Boeing 787-9 as
the carrier's aircraft of choice? Share your thoughts and experiences by leaving a comment!