United to Launch First Ever Non-Stop Service from U.S. to Chengdu

Pre-departure festivities at the gate in San Francisco Monday

United Airlines will launch service between San Francisco and Chengdu, China on Monday.  The route is the first-ever non-stop service from the North American continent to China’s fourth largest city.

The flight will also be the first time that a U.S. airline will fly from the United States to China beyond Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shanghai.

Flights will depart San Francisco International Airport at 1:25 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, and arrive at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport at 6:40 p.m. the next day.  From Chengdu, flights will depart at 9:50 a.m., on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and arrive in San Francisco at 8:40 a.m. the same day.  United will operate the service using Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft.

United’s Dreamliner has a total of 219 seats in two separate cabins.  Thirty-six of those seats are in business class, which United calls BusinessFirst.  The main cabin is divided into two parts, Economy Plus, a premium-economy lite section with 70 seats, and coach, with 113 seats.  BusinessFirst seating is in a 2-2-2 configuration across two cabins, each with three rows.  Each seat is 22” wide. The seats recline and expand to a fully flat bed that is 78” long.

Chengdu is the capital of the Sichuan province in southwest China and has a population of over 14 million.  It is a high-tech hub and almost 200 of the Fortune 500 companies operate there. It’s also known world wide as the natural habitat of the giant panda.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)