United launches new daily nonstop passenger and cargo service between Washington, D.C., and Tokyo Narita, Japan—its first-ever Asia-Pacific service from the nation’s capital. To commemorate this inaugural flight, a celebration will be held today at Washington Dulles International Airport, bringing together representatives from the Japanese Embassy and United Airlines.

United Flight 803 departs Washington Dulles today at 12:20 p.m. EST and is scheduled to arrive at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport at 4:25 p.m., tomorrow. United will operate the flight with a Boeing 777 aircraft that seats 253 passengers—10 in United First(R), 45 in United Business(R) and 198 in United Economy(R), including 84 in United Economy Plus(R).

A sample fare between Washington, D.C., and Tokyo Narita on United is as low as $434.50* each way, based on required roundtrip purchase by Nov. 7, 2006. Visit http://www.united.com for more details. The new service complements United’s existing service of 12 daily nonstop flights to Japan from its other U.S. gateways—including access to Osaka and Nagoya—strengthening the company’s longstanding presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

“We’re pleased to offer our passenger and cargo customers service between our nation’s capital and those around the world—connecting great political, economic and cultural centers,” said John Tague, United’s executive vice president and chief revenue officer. “This inaugural flight between Washington, D.C., and Narita helps solidify our international route network, as we increase service for our customers to the Asia-Pacific region.”

The new route also provides approximately 300 metric tons of cargo capacity per month between the United States and Japan.

This fall, United will have increased its international and U.S. domestic service for business and leisure travelers from Washington Dulles by 39 new flights. This represents an approximate 14 percent increase in departures compared to fall of last year. With this increase, United, Ted(SM) and United Express(R) will provide an average of 321 daily departures from Washington Dulles by November 2006 and convenient connections to more than 90 destinations.

United’s global network connects its customers from Washington D.C., to major cities around the world, including a dozen world capitals. The company recently expanded its network to the Middle East on Saturday, Oct. 28, when it launched nonstop service between Washington, D.C., and Kuwait City—the only nonstop service between the United States and Kuwait by a U.S. airline. United also will begin service to Rome from Washington, D.C., in April 2007, pending Italian government approval. In addition, the company also has applied for daily service between Beijing and Washington, D.C., which would be the first-ever capital-to-capital nonstop service between these two countries, if approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Customers will earn 1,000 bonus miles each time they purchase qualifying travel at http://www.united.com , which also offers no booking fees and the guaranteed lowest United fares. Customers can also earn 500 bonus miles each time they check in for a flight using EasyCheck-in Online at http://www.united.com by Jan. 31, 2007. Both of these bonus mile offers enable customers to earn an additional 2,000 miles per flight. Terms and conditions of the offers are available at http://www.united.com .
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