Which Mainland US Airports Currently Have Non-Stop Flights To Hong Kong?

Hong Kong is reasonably well served from US airports these days. Flight schedules have returned after almost nothing during the pandemic – with 88 flights to five airports scheduled in September 2024.

United Airlines and Cathay Pacific are the two airlines that currently serve the US. Together, the two airlines offer flights to five major US hubs – New York JFK, Los Angeles LAX, San Francisco SFO, Boston BOS, and Chicago ORD. Other airlines have operated routes in the past – such as American Airlines to Dallas Fort Worth.

CiriumWe look here at these routes, and frequencies. All data in this article is provided by Cirium, an aviation analytics company, for September 2024.

Flights between Hong Kong and New York JFK

Flight distance: 8,070 miles

New York JFK Airport
is the longest route from Hong Kong, and is the second most served (by number of fights) in September 2024. Cathay Pacific
fly the route mostly three times a day, using either the Airbus A350-1000 or Boeing 777-300. It is not operated by United Airlines.

Read more about CX capacity on this route

The 777 still boasts a first class cabin – a real treat on a flight this long. More flights, though, are operated by the A350. This has three classes: 46 angled flatbed business class seats, 32 recliner premium economy class seats, and 256 standard economy class seats for a total of 334 seats.

Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

At over 8000 miles, the flight time from New York to Hong Kong is a cool 15 hours and 50 minutes. It’s not the longest, though, from JFK – Singapore, Auckland, and Manila are longer.

Flights between Hong Kong and San Francisco SFO

Flight distance: 6,927 miles

San Francisco is not the longest route – but it is the most served by a fair margin. The route is served by both Cathay Pacific and United Airlines. This not only gives more customer choice and competition, it also opens up connections and partner bookings to two instead of one of the major airline alliances.

Together the two airlines offer 104 flights in the month. Cathay Pacific currently only operates the A350 to San Francisco.

Flights between Hong Kong and Los Angeles LAX

Flight distance: 7,260 miles

By number of flights (for September 2024), Los Angeles International Airport
comes in just behind its neighbor for Hong Kong connections. It is also third behind New York – but only just – with 87 scheduled flights against New York’s 88 flights! As with San Francisco, this route is served by both Cathay Pacific and United Airlines.

Photo: Lukas Souza | Simple Flying

Cathay operates this route twice daily, currently only using the Boeing 777-300.

Flights between Hong Kong and Boston BOS

Flight distance: 7,968 miles

Boston and Chicago complete the list of US airports served from Hong Kong. These two airports are only served only by Cathay Pacific, and with lower frequency. There is a single daily flight operated by Cathay Pacific (CX 811) using the A350-1000.

Not surprisingly, these flights to Boston are almost the same length and duration as the New York JFK flights. These flights are also offered as codeshares (onward with American Airlines) from Hong Kong to New York.

Flights between Hong Kong and Chicago ORD

Flight distance: 7,793 miles

Finally, the least served airport is Chicago O’Hare. Again, this route is only operated by Cathay Pacific. In this case, CX 801 (leaving Chicago at 16:45 and arriving in Hong Kong 20:45) operates daily except Monday and Wednesday. Again, it is currently only operated using the A350-1000.

More flights between Hong Kong and the US in the near future?

The two obvious airlines to start service to Hong Kong are American Airlines and Delta Air Lines. America American Airlines
previously operated routes from Dallas Forth Worth (a destination never served by other airlines) and Los Angeles to Hong Kong. All flights were dropped during the pandemic and have not re-started.

Photo: Takamex | Shutterstock

Given that its withdrawal decision was driven largely by the pandemic rather than other operational considerations, it seems the most likely to re-start service in the near future. Cathay Pacific, of course, is a fellow oneworld Alliance member. This gives good connections and partnering opportunities, but note that there is no joint venture in place.

Delta Air Lines
also used to operate to Hong Kong. It canceled flights before the pandemic – in 2018. These flights were started, along with flights to Seoul in Korea, in 2014 as part of the airline’s planned expansion of Seattle hub services. The airline has continued to serve other Asian routes well, particularly Tokyo, but has shown no signs of re-starting Hong Kong services. It does leave the SkyTeam alliance notably weak in Hong Kong – but there are, of course, connections via other Asian routes.