United Airlines has launched flights from its Los Angeles hub to Singapore – a 14,000km journey that takes 17 hours, 55 minutes on the outbound leg and 15 hours, 15 minutes on the way back.
The once-daily route is being operated with a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner configured with 252 seats in a three-class layout (116 in Economy, 88 in Economy Plus and 48 in Business). The inaugural service took off on 29th October.
Singapore Airlines (SIA) stopped nonstop trans-pacific flights to Los Angeles in 2013 after deciding to retire its four-engine Airbus A340-500s. It halted nonstop trans-arctic flights from Singapore to New York at the same time, though both destinations are still served with stopovers.
The 13,600km San Francisco-Singapore route is already served once daily by both carriers, with United deploying a 787-9 and SIA using an A350-900.
SIA has disclosed plans to resume serving New York and Los Angeles nonstop in 2018, when it takes delivery of its first A350-900ULR – an ultra-long-range variant of the next-generation aircraft. SIA plans to configure that aircraft with 94 seats in Premium Economy and 68 in Business.
