United Airlines to Start Adelaide – San Francisco Flights

United Airlines will start flying to Adelaide (ADL) in December, becoming the first and only US-based carrier to do so.

United’s April 2, 2025, press release says it will commence thrice-weekly roundtrips between San Francisco (SFO) and Adelaide on December 11, 2025.

The flights will initially operate on a seasonal basis. Open-source schedules data indicates the flights will continue into March until he end of the IATA 2025/26 winter season and be operated by a B787-9.

The data indicates the 14-hour and 50 minute flights will depart Adelaide mid-afternoon every every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday over the period for a late morning same-day arrival into SFO. The Adelaide-bound flights will push back from San Francisco late evening every Monday, Thursday, and Saturday and land in Adelaide mid-morning two days later.

No carrier has ever connected Adelaide with the United States. However, United has a history of trialling routes during the Northern Hemisphere winter when it has surplus aircraft. If the routes work out, they maintain them. If they don’t, United exits the route and has the aircraft available for more profitable routes by the time the Northern Hemisphere summer swings around.

United Airlines currently to Sydney (SYD) from Los Angeles (LAX), Houston (IAH), and San Francisco. It also flies into Melbourne (MEL) from Los Angeles and San Francisco and Brisbane from San Francisco, although the Queensland Government subsidises the latter route. It has yet to be confirmed whether the South Australian Government is incentivising United Airlines to fly into Adelaide.

Elsewhere in the Southwest Pacific, United Airlines flies from San Francisco to Papeete (PPT), Auckland (AKL) and Christchurch (CHC), with the latter airport also served on a seasonal basis.

The Adelaide flights reinforce United’s dominant market share on the United States—Australia country pair. United currently offers more seats and capacity on the country pair than Qantas.