As the coronavirus continues to spread, thousands are abandoning travel plans to China. United Airlines is responding by suspending flights to two Mainland airports and Hong Kong for the next two months. This is an update to an earlier post.
United Suspends Flights to Hong Kong
Between February 01-08, United will suspend flights to Hong Kong from two hubs:
- Newark (EWR) – on February 1st – UA179/180
- San Francisco (SFO) – on February 4th and 6th – UA869/878
The reduction will affect westbound flights starting February 1st and eastbound flights starting February 2nd.
The week of February 9th, United will cancel Newark – Hong Kong service and operate UA869/878 three days.
During the week of February 16th, United will cancel Newark – Hong Kong service and only operate UA869/878 once.
From the week of February 23rd until the end of March, United will cancel both the nighttime San Francisco flight (UA869/878) and the Newark flight (UA179/180).
United has already suspended service between Chicago and Hong Kong, though that was due to civil unrest in Hong Kong, not the coronavirus.
UA877/862 (daytime San Francisco flight) will continue to operate daily throughout this period.
United Suspends Flights to Beijing
Between February 01-08, United will suspend flights to Beijing from three hubs:
- Chicago (ORD) – February 6th and 7th – UA851/850
- Newark – February 4th and 5th – UA88/89
- Washington Dulles (IAD) – February 2nd – 7th – UA 807/808
The reduction will affect westbound flights starting February 2nd and eastbound flights starting February 2nd.
Newark will operate daily during daily during the week of February 9th. During the week of February 16th, it will only operate five times. Then the flight will be cancelled until at least March 29th.
Washington Dulles and Chicago – Beijing will be cancelled from February 9th to the end of March.
San Francisco will continue to operate daily.
United Suspends Flights to Shanghai
Between February 01-08, United will suspend flights to Shanghai from three hubs:
- Chicago – February 3rd, 5th, and 7th – UA835/836
- Newark – February 4th and 6th – UA86/87
- San Francisco – February 1st – 7th – UA891/890
The reduction will affect westbound flights starting February 1st and eastbound flights starting February 2nd.
San Francisco’s second service (UA891/890) will be cancelled from February 9th to the end of March.
Chicago – Shanghai will also be cancelled until the end of March.
Newark will continue to operate daily through the week of February 9th, but then be cancelled starting on February 16th through at least the end of the March.
Los Angeles will maintain a daily service until the week of February 23rd, when it will be reduced to 3x weekly until the end of March.
Finally, San Francisco (UA857/858) will remain a daily service.
CONCLUSION
United’s further cutbacks on Hong Kong and Mainland China service are not expected. Like the rolling cancellations of the 737MAX, it would not surprise me to see these dates extended further. Winter is traditionally low season for transpacific traffic and the coronavirus only exacerbates what is already a lean time of year.
If your flight has been cancelled, United’s auto-rebooking system will rebook you. If you don’t like what you have been rebooked on, you can change or cancel your flight at no charge.
This is a developing story.
image: United
Looking at flights even this week – they are almost completely empty! Maybe 20-30 booked.
I noticed as well! Can’t blame United for cutting back on service.
What about Chengdu?
Untouched at this time.
Hey Chinese why don’t you get civilized like the rest of the world and stop eating bats and cockroaches and eat just vegetables like the rest of the world?
Second time in less than 20 years you have screwed up the health of the world. Idiots.
Hey Debit, why dont you stop spreading racist and outdated information in comments and stop trolling?
It might not have been couched in diplomatic language, but essentially Debit is correct. The second manifestation of acute respiratory illness in less than 20 years, both in China. And both reflect the utter, abject failure of China’s public policy regarding food safety/standards.
Had it not been for people like Carlo Urbani of WHO/MSF, and the very brave Chinese whistleblower medico, Beijing would still be lying about SARS , 20 years on.
But debit has a point for once. Eating things like live baby mice and a soup featuring a poor live bat is not “culturally significant”, it’s sick and wrong. And it IS why these epidemics so often seem to originate in mainland China.
I’m happy. Tourism is the only valid reason for this travel. Now that it has been put on ice we don’t need these flights. U.S. businessmen should focus their efforts at home, Europe, Southern South America and Australia. Likewise the Chinese don’t need to be buying up U.S. companies or real estate.
I went through HKG last week. It was reminiscent of a scene from an apocalyptic film: 80% of people wearing masks and even aged Tai Tais were scrubbing down the tray tables with disinfectant wipes. It made me recall the SARS experience, and in particular being 1/9 on a 747 .
> This is a developing story.
Understatement of the Decade.
You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
Invest is surgical masks now.
I can’t believe I have to refer you to this:
https://www.dailywritingtips.com/affect-vs-effect/
Matthew, I am thinking about award ticket return to the USA in December 2020 from Southeast Asia. All the flights connect through Hong Kong. Would you not book that flight? Or just go ahead and book and see what happens? That is a long way off.
I would book it now. That’s a long way off and if things are still bad, United will let you cancel or re-route.
Affect, not effect.
Italy has just stopped all flights between China and the United States. Now that the WHO has declared a “global health emergency,” the United States should probably do the same — at least for the time being. Better safe than sorry.
*between China and Italy.
Might as well cut all flights to the USA, too, just to be on the safe side.
Whole lotta planes gonna be parked for a while soon enough.
That’s an interesting question – wonder what United will do with all the planes.