MANILA/SAN FRANCISCO – Reinvigorating tourism influx as well as tighter cooperation in the aviation industry had just been pulled off by the governments of the Philippines and the United States with the recent launch of United Airlines’ direct flight to San Francisco, California, which is touted as the premiere West Coast gateway in the US.

As conveyed by US Ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay L. Carlson, “Presidents Biden and Marcos agreed in May to explore how to expand air ties, highlighting how this effort will help strengthen our economic and people-to-people ties.”

She stated “our engagement with Philippine aviation authorities over the past several months – which we aim to continue through high level dialogues coming up in the next several months – will help open more opportunities for American carriers seeking to serve the Philippine market.”

The US envoy qualified that the October 30, 2023 Trans-Pacific inaugural flight of United Airlines to San Francisco “is simply the first of many more air links between our countries.”

Carlson emphasized that “United Airlines’ first nonstop flight from the Philippines to the continental United States promises to accelerate the rapidly expanding economic and commercial partnership between our two countries.”

Prior to the launch of its direct flight to San Francisco, United Airlines already counts more than four decades of history as an airliner catering to travelers from Manila on their nonstop journeys to Palau and Guam; hence, this is an added historic service to its flight routes from the Philippine capital.

“With this new MNL-SFO daily nonstop service, United will be the only U.S. airline connecting Manila and the continental US,” the airline company has specified.

With a flight taking off from Manila at 9:55am and arriving in San Francisco at roughly 7:00am, United Airlines Managing Director for Worldwide Sales Marcel Fuchs enthusiastically asserted that travelers will gain a day for them to start enjoying the adventure of their much-cherished holiday or for business travelers to catch up on deal-making meetings or critical events. The flight back from San Francisco, which is taking off close to midnight, also aims for arrival in Manila immediately just after sunrise.

“The San Francisco-Manila flight is indeed the first time that a US airline has flown between the US mainland and the Philippines. We are pleased to be pioneering and to be industry-leading this service. United Airlines has a very, very long and great business here in the Philippines,” Fuchs stressed.

The October 30 inaugural flight, which has more than 400-capacity has been highly regarded as ‘full flight’ – in fact, it was brimming even at the Polaris business class segment of the cabin which offers top-tier amenities as well as classy convenience to sophisticated travelers who opted to patronize the airline’s straight flight to the Bay Area.

“We know this is going to be a popular route, it’s been full coming in – and almost full going out,” Fuchs said, adding that “we know how strong the Filipino diaspora is to the United States; and many would come home to see their loved ones. And we also know that around the world, there are a lot of tourists coming in and it is very, very encouraging to see the arrivals coming from the US to the Philippines.”

It was in July this year when United Airlines announced the kick-off of its daily nonstop flights to San Francisco; and that essentially paved the way for the historical milestone that has been cemented when it comes to a new route for Philippine US-travel.

“There are 17 destinations we fly to and it is a premium experience to fly United Airlines,” Fuchs highlighted, noting that having San Francisco as an entry point will somehow provide seamless connection not just to the other US destinations but even to Canada.

“So, as you travel for business or for leisure, we feel that United Airlines is the right choice and we ought to continue to do business here in Manila,” he pointed out.