By Bay City News Service:
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee was scheduled to be at San Francisco International Airport Monday morning to celebrate the first nonstop flight from San Francisco to Chengdu in China's Sichuan province.
The first flight on the roughly 14-hour route was scheduled to take off at 1:35 p.m. Monday and will arrive at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport at 6:50 p.m. the following day.
Lee was expected to kick off the inaugural trip with a ceremony around 11:45 a.m. at Gate 91 in SFO's international terminal.
United Airlines is the first U.S. carrier to offer nonstop service from San Francisco to mainland China beyond Beijing, according to United Airlines officials.
The flight will depart from SFO on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays at 1:35 p.m. on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The return trip will depart on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 10 a.m. and arrive in San Francisco at 8:50 a.m. the same day.
The nonstop trip is expected to shave off about four hours for a typical flight with a stop between the two cities, United officials said.
Chengdu is the capital of the southwest province of Sichuan and is the country's fourth-largest city. Its population is about 14 million.
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