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)
