United Boosts Pacific Service, Adds Connections via Hong Kong

United Airlines is bringing back its mini-hub at Hong Kong. The carrier will add daily onward service to Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City from October 2025 as part of its latest schedule expansion.

The carrier will also launch nonstop service between San Francisco and Adelaide, Australia. That route will fly thrice weekly during the peak Northern Winter season. Finally, United plans a second daily flight between San Francisco and Manila, building on the success of that route’s October 2023 launch.

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An Aussie First

The route from San Francisco to Adelaide represents the first nonstop traffic in that market. United will operate the trip 3x weekly from 11 December 2025 on a 787-9.

Adding this route makes United the only carrier to serve four Australian markets nonstop from the USA. It also helps the carrier in chasing Qantas for the most total flights and seats between the US and Australia.

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Bringing Back the Mini-hubs in Asia

Operating mini-hub services in Asia is not a new concept for United. It acquired the Pan Am Pacific route network in 1985, including traffic rights at Tokyo-Narita and Hong Kong. Prior to acquiring Continental Airlines United was still using those hubs.

Hong Kong served as a connection point for traffic to Singapore (ending 2017) and Ho Chi Minh City (2016). Narita offered flights to Bangkok (2014), Hong Kong (2013), Seoul (2017), Beijing (2011), Singapore (2016), and Taipei (2012).

For many of these destinations the carrier now overflies those Asian connection points. Singapore, for example, flies double daily from San Francisco. Seoul, Beijing, and Taipei all offer nonstop flights from the US mainland as well.

United has not been shy about trying to grow those Asian connection points, however. Last year the airline announced plans to extend its network from Narita to Cebu, Philippines and Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Now it will similarly extend its reach from Hong Kong.

How well the carrier can fill those onward flights with US traffic will be an interesting situation. Haneda now handles significantly more Tokyo traffic than Narita. United’s total capacity at NRT is about 40% lower than it was in 2017 when the last of the regional flights ended (it peaked in 2014).

Similarly, Hong Kong’s position in the global market is diminished post-COVID. US carriers also face challenges serving Hong Kong owing to limits on overflying Russia. That said, United’s capacity into Hong Kong in 2025 represents the largest number of flights and seats in the past 20 years.

It will need that additional connecting flow to help fill the planes to Bangkok and Saigon. Those routes will operate on 787-9s, extending the inbound trips from Los Angeles. The Cebu and Ulaanbaatar routes via Narita operate on 737s from the company’s Micronesia operation based in Guam.