United Airlines is expanding its service to Hong Kong to meet growing customer demand.  United in June will launch three more flights between Chicago and Hong Kong, for a total of 10 nonstop flights per week.

As the only U.S. carrier with nonstop Chicago-Hong Kong service, we have seen increased customer demand for this service during the past 18 months, said Mark Schwab, Vice President-Pacific.  United is pleased to further improve our service by providing additional flights to Hong Kong for customers and cargo traveling from the U.S. Midwest and East Coast.

Beginning June 7, on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays, United Flight 829 will depart Chicago at 3:10 p.m. and arrive in Hong Kong at 7:45 p.m. the next day. Starting June 10, on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays, United Flight 828 will depart Hong Kong at 10:10 a.m. and arrive in Chicago at 11:40 a.m. the same day.  Customers who book and fly a paid, qualifying roundtrip flight through united.com by Dec. 31, 2005, will earn a booking bonus of 1,000 bonus miles.*

These extra flights will add welcome capacity to the Chicago-Hong Kong market, said Schwab.  United remains committed to offering our customers more convenient, award-winning travel options and more cargo capacity between the United States and the Pacific.

The increased flight frequencies will add up to 50 tons of extra cargo space nonstop to Hong Kong.  United will operate this combined passenger and cargo service using a Boeing 747-400 aircraft configured with 14 United First Suite seats, 73 United Business seats and 260 United Economy class seats, including 88 Economy Plus seats.

These added flights are part of United's ongoing strategy to expand its international service for its customers.  In the Asia-Pacific region, the airline in 2004 added new daily nonstop flights between Chicago and Osaka; Chicago and Shanghai; and San Francisco and Beijing.  In addition, United launched the first scheduled flight of a U.S. airline to Vietnam in almost 30 years on Dec. 9, 2004.  The service runs daily from San Francisco via Hong Kong to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly called Saigon).

This year, nonstop service from San Francisco to Nagoya, Japan, is scheduled to begin in March, and United is seeking the governmental approval to provide daily service between San Francisco and Guangzhou, China, in spring
2005.