United Airlines announced they’ll be resuming service to China starting in just under two weeks. United will resume twice-weekly flights between it’s hub at San Francisco (SFO) and Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport via Seoul’s Incheon International Airport. The new flights will return on July 8, 2020 and will be operated by a Boeing 777-300ER.

Per United Airlines,

Prior to suspending service to Shanghai in February due to COVID-19, United was the largest U.S. carrier serving Chinaand operated five daily flights between Shanghai and its hubs in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York/Newark and has served Shanghai for more than 30 years. 

In July, across the Pacific, United will also reinstate service between Chicago and Tokyo with the addition of new service to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. Additionally, United will resume service to Seoul; restart service to Hong Kong and will fly to Singapore via a stop at Hong Kong.

United has teamed up with Clorox and Cleveland Clinic to redefine cleaning and health and safety procedures from check-in to landing and has implemented more than a dozen new policies, protocols and innovations designed with the safety of customers and employees in mind, including:

• Requiring all travelers – including crew members – to wear face coverings and temporarily revoking travel privileges for customers who do not follow these requirements.
• Using state-of-the-art high-efficiency (HEPA) filters on all United mainline aircraft to circulate air and remove up to 99.97% of airborne particles
• Using electrostatic spraying on all aircraft before departure for enhanced cabin sanitization
• Adding a step to the check-in process, based on a recommendation from the Cleveland Clinic, requiring customers to acknowledge they do not have symptoms of COVID-19 and agree to follow our policies including wearing a mask on board
• Offering customers a touchless baggage check-in experience at more than 200 airports across the United States; United is the first and only U.S. airline to make this technology available

Bottom Line

It’s great to see that United Airlines will be starting to resume service to China via Seoul, as it’s the first step to build its global network and connect passengers to China. The airline has a long way to go to rebuild what it once had, but will continue to add more flights back based on demand in the future.

What are your thoughts on United returning to China? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.