United Airlines to Resume Daily Service to Beijing From This U.S. City — Here's When

The airline will also be increasing its service to Shanghai.

United Airlines will once again be flying from the United States and China with the return of service to Beijing and more flights to Shanghai.

Announced Friday, the airline will be flying from San Francisco to Beijing on a daily basis starting in November and flights to Shanghai, also from the California city, will increase starting in October.

"This announcement is good news for United customers because we believe that a daily flight to Beijing and a daily flight to Shanghai from San Francisco is consistent with the demand we see in the market right now," United’s Senior Vice President of Global Network Planning and Alliances Patrick Quayle said in a statement.

United also pointed out that their ability to fly to China nonstop has been “severely limited” from East coast hubs due to restrictions of flying over Russia.

Passengers can now book flights on the San Francisco and Shanghai route on United’s website and app. However the San Francisco and Beijing route will not be available for purchase until next week pending government approval, United says. 

The non-stop San Francisco to Shanghai flight is 13 hours and 50 minutes, and is operated on a Boeing 777-300ER. The flight features United's Polaris business cabin, United Premium Plus, along with Economy seating. 

Passengers currently looking to fly to Shanghai from San Francisco on United have to fly to Osaka or Tokyo in Japan, and then connect to a flight on Air China, according to United's site. Passengers can save between three and six hours by having the direct flight, while some connections are even longer than the six hours. 

There are currently no direct flights between San Francisco and Beijing for purchase according to Google Flights.

United shared in the announcement that the increase in flight schedule was "enabled by agreement between the governments of the U.S. and China to increase flights between the two countries."

China's government recently removed restrictions on large tour groups from China to visit other countries, including the United States, which was celebrated by senior U.S. government officials. 

“Today’s action to restore the United States as an approved destination for Chinese group travel is a significant win for the U.S. travel and tourism industry and an important step forward to promote the type of people-to-people exchange that is crucial for our bilateral relationship,” U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said in a statement at the time of the news.   

The United States Department of Commerce also said that 3 million travelers visited the United States before COVID-19, which contributed over $30 billion to the U.S. economy. 

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