United Airlines has two hubs on the West Coast, in San Francisco and Los Angeles, ideally positioning the airline for the largest Asia network of any US carrier, excluding China flights. Just yesterday, United announced another major Asia expansion which included the launch of two new routes, the reinstatement of one, and an increase on another.

Flying to Asia from the West Coast

According to Cirium data, United has 382 flights scheduled to Asia from its hubs at San Francisco International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport in October. Between the two hubs, the airline serves 11 destinations in seven countries. United's newly-announced San Francisco - Manila route is not in the system but will be the carrier's 12th Asian destination in its 8th country.

“United offers more flights to more destinations across the Pacific than all other U.S. airlines combined. United is the flag carrier of the U.S. and we are excited to bring this new service to Manila while expanding access to Hong Kong, Taipei and Tokyo.” - Patrick Quayle

United's busiest Asia route from its California hubs is from San Francisco to Singapore, a flight that operates twice daily. The SFO-SIN flight is one of the longest in United's network at 8,440 miles and blocked out at 16h20m. United deploys its Boeing 787-9s on the route, with a capacity for 257 passengers in a three-cabin configuration.

As announced yesterday, from October 29, United will increase its Taipei route to twice daily. Currently, the airline has one daily flight to the Taiwanese capital, departing at 14:40 and arriving at 18:45 +2. United's largest aircraft, the Boeing 777-300ER, is deployed on the flights to Taipei, but the second flight will see service from the smaller 777-200ERs.

Photo: United Airlines

United has two daily flights scheduled to Seoul (Incheon) in October but will reduce to one daily frequency from October 27. Two aircraft types are deployed on the route, the Boeing 777-200ER and 787-9, but the 777 will be taken off the route when it drops to one daily frequency.

Click here for San Francisco - Singapore flights.

The San Francisco - Hong Kong route has twelve weekly flights in October, with two daily flights except Sundays and Tuesdays. The Boeing 777-300ER is used for the 6,927-mile route. Currently, the Chicago-based carrier has 35 flights scheduled from San Francisco to Shangai in October. United is flying to Shanghai once daily for most of the month but will double its flights from October 28.

A handful of routes from the two California hubs have one daily frequency, Los Angeles - Tokyo Haneda, San Francisco - Tokyo Haneda, San Francisco - Osaka, and San Francisco - Tokyo Narita. A few routes are set to resume at the end of October, San Francisco - Beijing, Los Angeles - Tokyo Narita, Los Angeles - Shanghai, San Francisco - Delhi, and San Francisco - Chengdu. All the resuming routes except Chengdu will operate daily.

Click here for Los Angeles - Tokyo Narita flights.

The greater Asia network

United does not only fly to Asia from its California hubs but from every one of its hubs and its bases in Guam and Honolulu. According to Cirium, less than half of United's Asia flying is from San Francisco or Los Angeles, with Guam and Newark playing a significant role in the carrier's Asia network. United has 879 scheduled departures from the United States and Palau (an independent country but under the defense of the US military) to Asia.

Photo: Lukas Souza | Simple Flying

Below is a table of October's Asia flights by origin, excluding SFO-MNL, SFO-TPE (2x daily), and LAX-HKG.

Have you flown on any United flights to Asia? Let us know in the comments below.