United, South African, LOT Expand Long-Haul Networks

Three Star Alliance members—United Airlines, South African Airways and LOT Polish Airlines—are enhancing their long-haul networks during the northern winter season with new intercontinental routes to the Philippines, Brazil and South Korea.

San Francisco-Manila

United is further bolstering its transpacific presence during the upcoming northern winter season with a daily nonstop route from San Francisco to Manila.

The Chicago-based airline currently operates flights to the Philippine capital from Guam and Palau’s Koror Airai Airport, flying daily and 2X-weekly, respectively. However, the new service will make it the only US carrier with direct flights from the US mainland to the Philippines.

Operations on the 11,228-km (6,063-nm) sector between San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL) will commence on Oct. 29 using Boeing 777-300ERs.

United is also adding daily year-round service from Los Angeles to Hong Kong, which will complement its existing Hong Kong-San Francisco route. Additionally, the Star Alliance member plans to restore service from Los Angeles to Tokyo Narita, joining existing flights to Tokyo Haneda, but does not intend to reinstate service between New Jersey’s Newark International Airport and Hong Kong due to the inability to overfly Russia.

United will go head-to-head in the San Francisco-Manila market with Philippine Airlines, which serves the route daily using 777-300s. OAG Schedules Analyser data shows that the Philippine flag-carrier offers some 5,180 two-way weekly seats, while United’s entry will add a further 4,900 seats.

United has been seeking to launch a Manila route for several years to capitalize on the “ton of traffic” between the US and the Philippines. However, the airline had struggled to obtain slots at the congested airport.

Sabre Market Intelligence data shows that overall O&D traffic between the US and the Philippines amounted to 2.84 million two-way passengers in 2019, with Los Angeles-Manila the biggest city pair with 19% of the traffic. San Francisco-Manila was the second largest at 15%, attracting some 427,740 two-way passengers.

Looking at the flow of the O&D traffic, about 57% of travelers flew nonstop between San Francisco and Manila, while Taipei, Seoul and Hong Kong were the top three one-stop connecting markets.

Excluding operations to China, United said its transpacific network during the forthcoming northern winter 2023-23 season would be 50% larger than all other US airlines combined.

Cape Town-São Paulo

South African Airways (SAA) is set to reintroduce long-haul flights for the first time in over three years, establishing a new route linking Cape Town and São Paulo. Additionally, the airline will resume services between Johannesburg and the Brazilian city.

Starting on Oct. 31, flights from Cape Town International Airport (CPT) to Sao Paulo’s Guarulhos International Airport (GRU) will operate twice a week on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The Johannesburg O.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB) route will also have two round trips per week on Mondays and Thursdays, beginning on Nov. 6.

These services mark SAA’s return to intercontinental flying following a business restructure. The airline, once the largest in Africa, had faced persistent financial challenges over an extended period before the pandemic, relying heavily on government financial assistance to stay afloat.

In December 2019, the company entered business rescue, a process similar to Chapter 11 proceedings in the US. After emerging from this phase in May 2021, SAA has been gradually restoring its fleet and expanding its route network.

Cape Town-São Paulo will become the carrier’s first intercontinental route from Cape Town in 11 years since flights to London Heathrow ended in August 2012. Cape Town Air Access, a route development project established by the economic development agency Wesgro, highlighted São Paulo as the most significant unserved market with the highest growth potential for Cape Town and the Western Cape in 2019, before the onset of the COVID-19 crisis.

In 2019, approximately 43,000 two-way passengers traveled between the two regions, with an average annual growth rate of 26% between 2015 and 2019. The implementation of the direct flight, which takes approximately eight hours, will reduce the current travel time by over 50%.

Wroclaw-Seoul

Star Alliance member LOT Polish Airlines is expanding its Asia network during the northern winter season with the launch of a new route to Seoul Incheon (ICN).

The carrier plans to connect Wroclaw, a secondary city in western Poland, with South Korea’s capital once a week from Nov. 3, subject to government approval. Flights will be aboard Boeing 787-9s.

The service will be the airline’s third to Seoul and marks its return to international flying from Wroclaw Airport (WRO) after an absence of two years. It will also become the Polish airport’s only long-haul route and first nonstop link to Asia.

As a result of the planned launch, operations from Warsaw Chopin Airport (WAW) to Seoul will reduce to 4X-weekly, down from the five return trips provided at present. However, two flights per week will be maintained between Budapest, Hungary, and ICN.

LOT has served the South Korean market since October 2016 when WAW-ICN opened, data provided by OAG shows, while flights from Budapest commenced in September 2019. Overall, the airline offers about 5,100 two-way weekly seats on the two routes to and from Seoul.

Although the WRO-ICN route marks a departure from LOT’s traditional long-haul strategy, the Wroclaw region is home to a number of South Korean companies.

Total O&D traffic between Wroclaw and South Korea amounted to 33,800 two-way passengers in 2019—around 70% of whom traveled one-stop via Warsaw. Frankfurt and Munich were the second- and third-largest connecting markets.