United Airlines has become the first American carrier to operate scheduled non-stop flights between the US mainland and Queensland with the arrival on Saturday of the inaugural flight from San Francisco to Brisbane.
United will operate the return service three times per week, with flight UA96 departing SFO at 11.20pm on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday, and arriving in BNE at 6.30am (+2). The return service, UA97 will depart BNE at 10.30am and arrive in SFO at 6.40am the same day.
The carrier will utilise a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner on the route.
Aptly, the new service comes nearly a century after the first ever trans-Pacific flight, which occurred between the same two cities.
“In 1928, Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and his crew became the first to fly across the Pacific from San Francisco to Brisbane. Ninety-four years later, the route they pioneered will now deliver thousands of tourists to Queensland,” Brisbane Airport Corporation CEO Gert-Jan de Graaff said.
“That first pioneering journey took 83 hours and 38 minutes. Now it’s a 13 hour 45 minute flight. And the historic Southern Cross aircraft sits opposite our International Terminal where United Airlines docked this morning.”
Another first for United
United Airlines senior vice president of global network planning and alliances Patrick Quayle said the carrier was thrilled to work with the Queensland Government and Brisbane Airport to launch the flights and become “the first US airline to add a new transpacific destination to its global network since the start of the pandemic”.
“United has a long history in Australia, and with our new partnership with Virgin Australia, now is the ideal time to expand our service and offer additional convenient flight options to our customers on both sides of the Pacific,” he stated.
The service is the first to be supported by Queensland’s $200m Attracting Aviation Investment Fund, according to Queensland Tourism Minister Stirling Hinchliffe, and aims to reboot the state’s $6 billion international visitor economy.
“United Airlines from San Francisco alone is predicted to contribute $27 million to the State’s visitor economy and an extra 40,000 inbound seats, supporting 260 good Queensland jobs,” he added.
Two-way tourism boost
The new route will allow US-bound Aussies to connect to more than 80 North American cities through United’s SFO hub.
“We hope to see as many Americans visiting Australia as possible, and for Australians to come and explore everything the U.S. has to offer,” said US Consulate General Christine Elder, who was present when the first flight touched down.
“These new flights will make it easier for thousands of people to travel between our countries.
“There are endless possibilities for connections between the United States and Australia that this new United Airlines route will help facilitate.”
Earlier this month, United announced it will increase flights between Sydney and San Francisco to 10-times weekly from 14 December.
Visit the United Airlines website for more.
