United applies for Guam-Shanghai service

GUAM—United Airlines has applied to the U.S. Department of Transportation for authority to begin nonstop service between the airline’s Guam hub and Shanghai, China.

United intends to begin the new service from Guam using Boeing 737-700/800 series aircraft, effective Oct. 28, 2014, subject to government approval. Flights will be available for sale at a later date.

“We are excited to add the Guam-Shanghai route to the most comprehensive U.S.-China network,” said Sam Shinohara, United’s managing director, Business Development Asia/Pacific.

“As Guam’s hometown airline, United has been working hard over the past seven years to develop the China market, with annual charter operations to the island.  Our United sales team in China is aggressively promoting Guam to customers in the Pearl River Delta who currently use our four-times-weekly Hong Kong-Guam service, and we are committed to using our resources elsewhere in China to build strong, sustainable traffic for this new service from Shanghai to Guam,” he added.

Guam Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo said United’s announcement of providing regular direct flights between Guam and Shanghai is an important step forward for the continued diversification of the U.S. territory’s tourism industry.

“United continues to expand services out of their Guam hub, and I commend them for their continued investment in our community. They have been leader in helping to expand our tourism industry, and I am hopeful that this will increase visitor arrivals from China. I also continue to work with federal entities to address security concerns over extending a China visa waiver to Guam. I continue to strongly believe that these concerns can be address and that we can find appropriate mitigations so that we can continue to grow Guam’s tourism industry, which could lead to even more direct flights to other Chinese cities in the future,” she said.

Flight schedule

Subject to government approval, flight UA131 will depart A.B. Won Pat Guam International Airport at 7:20pm on Tuesdays and Saturdays and arrive at Shanghai Pudong International Airport at 10:15pm the same days (all times local). The return flight, UA130, will depart Shanghai at 11:10pm on Tuesdays and Saturdays and arrive at Guam International Airport at 5:30am the following days (all times local). Flying times will be approximately 4 hours 55 minutes northbound and 4 hours and 20 minutes southbound.

United in China

United started nonstop service to mainland China in 1986 and today serves Beijing with nonstop flights from Chicago, New York/Newark, San Francisco and Washington/Dulles; Shanghai with nonstop flights from Chicago, Los Angeles, New York/Newark and San Francisco; and Hong Kong with nonstop flights from Chicago, New York/Newark, San Francisco, Guam, Singapore and Ho Chi Minh City. In addition, United plans to start three-times-weekly nonstop service from Chengdu to San Francisco, effective Jun. 11, 2014 (eastbound). United is a founding member of Star Alliance, the world’s largest and most comprehensive airline alliance, whose other members include Air China.  United and Air China have a bilateral partnership that includes codesharing on selected routes and provides customers with both carriers additional travel benefits such as airport lounge access and frequent flyer program reciprocity. (United)