Remember back when Continental Airlines promised to connect its Houston hub to the South Pacific? That 787 route to Auckland failed to materialize but the airline – now United Airlines – never lost sight of the market. Today the airline announced a new plan, slightly longer, to connect the regions. Daily non-stop service between Houston and Sydney launches on 18 January 2018.
Map generated by the Great Circle Mapper - copyright © Karl L. Swartz.
The new flight clocks in at 8,596 miles making it the second longest United will operate. Adding this service in to the non-stop routes to Singapore from San Francisco and Los Angeles gives United the three longest non-stop routes flown by a US carrier, all operated on the 787-9.
The flight schedule is similar to most other US-Australia routes:
| City | Depart | City | Arrive | |
| UA 101 | Houston (IAH) | 8:00 p.m. | Sydney (SYD) | 6:30 a.m. +2 days later |
| UA 100 | Sydney (SYD) | 11:50 a.m. | Houston (IAH) | 10:35 a.m. same day |
Service between Houston and Auckland was inaugurated by Air New Zealand two years ago; with this flight the United/ANZ joint venture will offer significant lift between the regions on a daily basis.
As for why Houston? the local market is significant, of course, but the connecting flow matters, too. Houston (and DFW, served by Qantas) offers a far more convenient connection point for a significant portion of the Midwest, South and Southeastern United States. Between the Sydney and Air New Zealand flights the United/ANZ joint venture now offers significant coverage at both ends of the trip with multiple daily frequencies.
Correct. Basically everyone in this circle does better via IAH/DFW than LAX/SFO/YVR. pic.twitter.com/9GdHlpT5uB
— Seth Miller (@WandrMe) September 7, 2017
Oh, and if you have some points to burn it appears that the route has some business class seats open on Tuesdays.
Read More: Where to sit on the United 787-9 Dreamliner
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J seats available every Tuesday. 70,000 one way. I can’t imagine travelling in coach for that long.
sure beats an INTL-to-DOM transfer experience at SYD, which involves bussing to a different terminal and check-in agents trying to scam you AUD$75 checked-bag fee over the carry-on weight limit.
* meant to say using AAA-IAH-AKL-XXX as opposed to AAA-DFW-SYD-XXX
Woah
That’s outstanding.
Thanks for sharing this news! Regards Alastair Majury