An Air Berlin A330-200 at SFO nonstop to Dusseldorf- but we all wish it were Berlin! (Photo: SFO)
We do our best to keep up with all the new flights at key airports around the country, especially here in our home town of San Francisco.
Due to the frothy tech economy, SFO just keeps piling on more and more flights and many of them start this summer.
SFO says the summer travel season will begin in earnest on Friday, May 27, with more than 156,000 forecasted passengers arriving and departing SFO. In total, more than 15.5 million travelers are expected at SFO between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
Luckily, at least for now, SFO does not seem to be suffering from the freakishly long TSA lines we’ve seen splashed across social media this week.
Anyway, to keep up with all the SFO action, here’s a rundown:
First off, Airberlin will offer nonstops to Düsseldorf, Germany. Dusseldorf is a nice place, but you’d think Airberlin would offer a nonstop to Berlin, right?
Skúli Mogensen, the founder and CEO of WOW Air (Photo: WOW Air)
WOW Air roared into the market with super low fares to Iceland and beyond, which is keeping transatlantic fares in check on all airlines, all summer long.
Fiji Airways is SFO’s latest coup (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
Fiji Airways plans to kick off seasonal service between San Francisco and Nadi, Fiji, using an A330-200. The service will operate two days a week (Thursdays and Sundays) from June 16 through August 14, and again December 15-January 15.
United crew plus a couple Terracotta Warriors at inaugural festivities for new nonstop to Xian (Photo: SFO)
United Airlines has also launched new nonstop destinations from SFO, including Nashville, Tennessee, Tel Aviv, Israel, and the first flight from the United States to Xi’an, China. (Stay tuned for the TravelSkills contest winner’s trip report later this summer!)
You will soon soak in this view of the Marina Bay Sands hotel in Singapore after flying nonstop on United from SFO (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
Later this summer, United will also launch nonstop service to Auckland, New Zealand and the first-ever nonstop service to Singapore and Hangzhou, China.
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I experienced one of those freakishly long lines at SFO last year, when it took me an hour to get through security (Friday evening, November 20 2015). Terminal 3 (United).
Not….really….some of these routes will evaporate when the tech industry slows down again. But growing ethnic diversity (which is the real driver of most international flights in California) means that many new routes are here to stay.
In addition, United has been decoupling itself from funneling most of its flights through Tokyo Narita. Now UAL wants to do more Asian non-stops using 787’s, and avoid Japan completely. That’s pushing the flag carriers to respond in kind (and buy more American aircraft!)
Thanks for the clarification, I am stunned and shocked (didn’t realize that) and have to blame these airports for a lot of the problems. It’s wrong for the TSA not to be ready, but for the airports to allow this to happen?
Who pays when someone misses his plane because the lines are two or three hours long?
You are right on good management by SFO but hard to believe that all of the others just let this happen. Glad I don’t have a flight for another month.
One last thing Chris, thanks for the heads-up on the British Air fare discount last week. I was able to change a really bad United business class ticket that included a lot of miles and money for a full first class ticket for a few hundred more, which include getting a ton of miles and saving my miles, thanks.
Hey Sal- Airport authorities can decide to use TSA or private contractors. That’s why several are now threatening to dump TSA in favor of the private companies. IMO, I think SFO has good planning/engineering at play with several entrypoints instead of just a few, which is why freakish lines are rare.
Not to disagree but I thought that TSA was the only game in town on screening???
Didn’t know that airports could contract that to a company that is not TSA. If that is the case then the airports that use TSA and have long lines is just as responsible as TSA. If there is long lines shouldn’t the airport do something about it???
That is why I am confused, thought that TSA was the only unit that did airport screening and that airports had no choice.
SFO hasn’t had to deal with the disgustingly long lines because SFO, thankfully, uses a private contractor to perform security duties. It turns out to be one of the best decisions SFO has made in the last decade.
The tech bubble has helped SFO immensely in obtaining new routes but once that industry slows down (and it will, if it hasn’t begun already), many of these new routes will be cut. Same thing happened during the dot-com bubble and burst in 2000-2001.
THANKS! That’s news to me. We’ll add it.
Chris
Don’t forget the new Frontier route announced this week!
https://easyjourneys.wordpress.com/2016/05/13/frontier-adds-non-stop-sf-orlando-flights/
“Luckily, at least for now, SFO does not seem to be suffering from the freakishly long TSA lines we’ve seen splashed across social media this week.”
That’s cause there are no TSA agents at SFO. Covenant Aviation Security, a private company, is contracted to provide all passenger and baggage screening at SFO.