Hub Carriers Etihad and Turkish Airlines add San Francisco Flights

Two major global hub airlines will introduce flights to San Francisco International Airport over a five month period between winter 2014 and spring 2015 significantly enhancing global connectivity to the West Coast US city in Northern California. Etihad Airways will introduce a daily flight from Abu Dhabi in November 2014 with Turkish Airlines (THY) introducing flights from Istanbul in April 2015, increasing to a daily operation from May 2015.

The new Etihad link will be introduced from November 18, 2014 and will increase the carrier’s US network to six destinations. It will be operated using a three-class Boeing 777-300ER aircraft leased from its strategic partner Jet Airways, offering a total of eight seats in First Class, 30 seats in Business Class and 308 seats in Economy Class.

Located on the west coast of the United States, San Francisco has developed as a leading tourism, culture and business hub. In 2013, 16.9 million people visited the famous ‘City on the Bay’, as San Francisco is often described, with popular attractions including the breath-taking Golden Gate Bridge, the Fisherman’s Wharf marketplace, the abandoned prison on Alcatraz Island, and the large-scale shopping, theatre and restaurant haven of Union Square.

Etihad already offers double-daily flights to New York and daily flights to Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, D.C. The launch of the San Francisco service will be followed from December 3, 2014 by a previously announced new link to Dallas. “The United States has been placed at the heart of our network development this year, with services launched to Los Angeles last month and flights commencing to Dallas in December 2014,” said James Hogan, president and chief executive officer, Etihad Airways.

“San Francisco is another strong addition and provides our first direct link to Northern California. Given its global prominence as a tourism and business centre, we anticipate strong demand in First, Business and Economy Class, not only between San Francisco and Abu Dhabi, but onwards to destinations across our network and the networks of our codeshare partners,” he added.

In addition to providing a direct connection from San Francisco to Abu Dhabi, the new service will offer convenient onward connectivity to more than 30 destinations across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, Middle East, Africa and the island nations of the Indian Ocean, available through Etihad Airways’ global network and codeshare agreements with partner airlines. Similarly in the opposite direction, flights to San Francisco will connect to destinations throughout the US, Canada and Mexico.

Meanwhile, Turkish Airlines (THY) has unveiled San Francisco as its latest US destination as it continues to grow its global network. The airline has been looking to grow in North America for the past couple of years but the arrival of additional 777-300ERs over the coming 18 months will now enable it to expand its long-haul operations.

The carrier currently serves six US destinations – Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and New York JFK and Washington Dulles, but has publicly announced its desire to also add flights to Atlanta and San Francisco and resume a former link to Miami.

The new Istanbul – San Francisco route will commence from April 13, 2015 on a five times weekly basis but will grow to a daily schedule from May 11, 2015. The introduction of the daily operation on the Istanbul – San Francisco route will coincide with an upgauge of capacity in other US markets with the debut of the Boeing 777-300ER on the carrier’s existing Istanbul – Chicago route, currently served on a daily basis using an Airbus A330-200.

In the Gulf region, San Francisco is already served from the UAE by Emirates Airline from Dubai International Airport while European national carriers Aer Lingus, Air France, British Airways, KLM, Lufthansa and Swiss International Air Lines offer flights to their respective hubs. Virgin Atlantic Airways also links the US airport to London and XL Airways France to Paris, while United Airlines, which has its own hub operation in San Francisco, serves the Frankfurt, London and Paris markets.

Etihad and THY will both hope to attract passengers from their wider networks across the Middle East, Africa and Indian subcontinent to support point-to-point demand. According to MIDT data, an estimated 229,000 bi-directional O&D passengers flew to/from San Francisco from destinations across the Middle East, while approximately 84,000 flew to/from the US city from destinations in Africa.

According to our research annual flows of more than 25,000 passengers were recorded in these regions to/from San Francisco to/from Dubai, Istanbul, Tehran and Tel Aviv in 2013, while more than 10,000 annual bi-directional O&D passengers travelled to/from Amman and Johannesburg.

The new air services will help San Francisco continue its impressive growth of the past ten years. After declines in passengers numbers in 2001, 2002 and 2003, linked to demand declines in the US market in the aftermath of the 911 terrorist atrocities, San Francisco International Airport has seen annual growth in each of the subsequent ten years and is on track to boost passenger numbers further in 2014. In our analysis, below, we highlight its traffic performance over this period.