Changi Airport hails launch of first direct flight between Singapore and San Francisco

It will be operated by United Airlines.

Changi Airport Group (CAG) welcomed United Airlines’ plan to launch non-stop flights between Singapore and San Francisco, California starting June this year.

The inaugural direct flight will take off from San Francisco on June 1, with the return flight departing from Changi Airport on June 3. 

The daily service will utilise a 252-seat Boeing 787-900 Dreamliner aircraft in a two-class configuration. The total flight length stands at 16 hours and 20 minutes westbound, and 15 hours and 30 minutes eastbound.

United Airlines and Changi Airport said that this service will save travellers up to four hours each way, as compared to the airline’s existing service which requires a transfer stop in Tokyo, Japan.

With the new service, Singapore will be linked to the United States, with 54 weekly services connecting to six American cities. 

In terms of passenger movements, point-to-point traffic between the United States and Southeast Asia has also grown steadily over the past three years. 

More than 4.9 million passengers travelled between these two regions in the 12 months ending November 2015, an increase of about 29% from the corresponding period three years ago.