United turned heads last month when it announced it would start one-stop flights to both Bangkok (BKK) and Ho Chi Minh City (SGN) this fall. They won't be the nonstop flights that many Americans surely crave – both routes will make a pitstop in Hong Kong (HKG) before continuing onward to Thailand and Vietnam.
But maybe they could fly straight to Southeast Asia soon? Speaking to investors at a conference on Thursday, CEO Scott Kirby made clear that's the goal.
“We’re going to fly to Vietnam and to Bangkok,” CEO Scott Kirby said during Bernstein's Strategic Decisions Conference. “It’s an efficient way to use airplanes: It takes one airplane for us to fly each of those two routes, it connects to our U.S. network.
“We’re aircraft constrained today on the right kind of airplane to fly to those markets nonstop. It lets us kind of test the market, and if it works, we’ll fly nonstop from San Francisco (SFO) to each of those two destinations,” Kirby continued. “And if it doesn’t, we’ll learn and it’s a cheap way to learn.”
Translation: With Boeing deliveries still way behind, United can't afford to take a flyer on ultra-long-haul routes that may not pan out right now. But if things go well, nonstops to both Southeast Asian countries could be in the cards.
It's far too early to say just yet whether that's in the cards. Heck, the airline hasn't even begun flying to either Thailand or Vietnam: That service begins Oct. 26 – and on that day, they'll become the only U.S. airline with a presence in either country. Air Canada launched nonstops to Bangkok from Vancouver (YVR) a few years back while Vietnam Airlines currently flies nonstop between San Francisco and Ho Chi Minh.
But United has an incredible track record of establishing both creative yet successful long-haul routes in the post-pandemic international travel boom, taking bold swings at further-flung destinations.
The Chicago-based airline has thrown a ton of new darts at the map in recent years: Malaga (AGP) and Mallorca (PMI) in Spain, Tenerife (TFS) in the Canary Islands, Amman (AMM) in Jordan, Marrakech (RAK) in Morocco. In addition to those one-stop routes to Southeast Asia this year, the airline began nonstops to Palermo (PMO) in Sicily last month and will soon even fly nonstop to Greenland with a flight Nuuk (GOH)
A nonstop from Newark (EWR) to Bergen (BGO) is one of the few long-haul routes United has added that they eventually canned.
“Not all of them work … That's one of the great things about an airline,” Kirby said. “Unlike building a hotel – you build a hotel in Nuuk, you're kind of stuck. You fly a flight to Nuuk and it doesn't work, you don't fly it next season.
“So we can experiment more,” Kirby added. “But most of the experiments have worked out.”
Bottom Line
On Oct. 26, United Airlines will begin one-stop flights to both Thailand and Vietnam, becoming the only U.S. airline with a presence in either country. But in 2026 or beyond, could the airline skip the stop in Hong Kong and fly nonstop to Southeast Asia?
We'll have to wait and see … and keep our fingers crossed.
