United plans to launch direct flights from San Francisco to Hangzhou this summer

United Airlines confirmed Tuesday that it plans to launch a flight between San Francisco and Hangzhou in July this year, and has entered the process of submitting an application to the US federal Department of Transportation.

It is reported that United Airlines has been operating direct flights between the United States and China since 1986, and is the most direct flights between the United States and the United States, serving the most Chinese cities. The planned route will be operated three times a week by Boeing 787-9 aircraft, with the first flight scheduled to depart from San Francisco on July 13 and return from Hangzhou on July 15.

United now operates four flights a day from the U.S. mainland to Beijing and four a day to Shanghai. To Chengdu three classes a week in winter, four classes a week in summer; There are two flights a week between Guam and Shanghai. The US carrier is scheduled to start flights to Xi 'an in May, three times a week, as a seasonal route until the end of October. United Airlines has opened routes to Xi 'an and Hangzhou this year, which means that the second-tier market has become the focus of the layout of American civil aviation operators.

As the relationship between China and the United States grows closer, the passenger planes of the two countries are getting busier. Under a 2007 air transport agreement signed between China and the United States, Chinese carriers can operate up to 180 weekly flights from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou to the United States, while U.S. carriers can operate 173 weekly flights to Beijing and Shanghai and seven weekly flights to Guangzhou.

Since 2015, six Chinese and US operators have opened nine new routes between China and the US, including seven by Chinese operators and two by US operators.