Americans’ desire to visit the Asia-Pacific region has reached a high, and airlines are rushing to provide new routes that capture the rising interest.
Earlier this month, United Airlines unveiled a historic route expansion to the Pacific, calling the recent demand for the region “unprecedented.” The expansion includes dozens of new flights to countries throughout Asia and the Pacific, including destinations never before served by a US airline. In fact, United has grown its transpacific route network so much this winter that it’s 94 percent larger than last winter, the carrier said in a release.
“United is in the midst of the largest South Pacific expansion in aviation history,” the release said. The airline has added 15 daily nonstop flights across the Pacific region and will operate a total of 66 flights between the US and Australia and New Zealand—a 40 percent increase compared to last winter. “This will make United’s Asia-Pacific network larger than pre-COVID for the first time.”
Indeed, the significant uptick in interest is a lingering consequence of borders shutting down during the pandemic. “The Pacific region was the last to effectively open post-COVID,” says Patrick Quayle, senior vice president of global network planning and alliances for United Airlines. “What we saw all over the world is when countries open borders, demand surged. Asia-Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, and right now China, are really the last that are opening up.”
The region didn’t start fully reopening until well into 2022. (Hong Kong and Japan, for instance, didn’t restart regular travel until September and October 2022.) Compare that to some places in Europe that were reopened as early as 2021, and it’s easy to see why the region is still in the midst of its post-COVID boom.
United is now betting big on the region, adding new destinations and additional flights to existing cities on its route map. “Across the Pacific, United’s network this winter is 61 percent larger than all other US airlines combined,” the carrier states. (Although that comparison excludes flights to mainland China.)
One of the blockbusters among the new offerings is a nonstop flight from San Francisco to Christchurch, New Zealand. When it launches on December 8, it will be the first and only nonstop flight between North America and New Zealand’s South Island.
