• Apple buys 50 business class flights every day from San Francisco to Shanghai, China, spending over $150 million per year on United Airlines. 
• That’s according to a photo of a “confidential” United sign posted to Twitter. 
• Apple needs to fly its employees to Asia in order to keep an eye on its electronics supply chain. 

There are some frequent flyer miles stacking up in Cupertino.

The iPhone giant spends $150 million on a single airline per year, according to a photo of a United promotional sign posted to Twitter by LAflyer.

Apple spends so much money flying its employees to China, where most of its products are manufactured, that it buys 50 business class seats daily from San Francisco to Shanghai, according to the sign.

Shanghai is a logical connection to Zhengzhou and Shenzen, which have been called “iPhone Cities” for the amount of electronics hardware manufacturing that takes place there.  

Apple also flies a lot of people to Hong Kong, and Taiwan Yaouyuan International Airport, presumably to stay close to its supply chain. Former Apple engineers have said that frequent travel to China is one of the defining features of some hardware roles at Apple. 

The top non-manufacturing destination for Apple is London.

The sign also revealed other top United clients, although they don’t spend as much as Apple. Facebook, Roche, and Google all spend over $34 million on United flights per year, according to the sign. 

One Apple employee who is not flying United is CEO Tim Cook, who flies private at the request of Apple’s board. Cook spent $294,082 on private air travel in 2018, according to a recent SEC filing. 

Neither United nor LAflyer immediately returned a requests for comment, but that shouldn’t be surprising given the sensitivity of this information. At the bottom of the poster, small text says that it is “confidential information” and shouldn’t be shared outside United. 

See Also:

• Tim Cook made over $136 million in total compensation in 2018, including a $12 million bonus
• Apple charges a ton of money for built-in storage — here’s how to get around it
• A hidden trick for turning your iPhone and AirPods into a spy microphone is going viral. Here’s what the feature is really about.

A venture of United Airlines plans to buy ExpressJet Airlines from SkyWest for $70 million in cash.

As part of the definitive agreement announced Tuesday, SkyWest will continue to own the Bombadier regional jets currently in service at ExpressJet and will lease 20 of of the CJR200 aircraft to ExpressJet for up to five years.

SkyWest and ExpressJet operate through partnerships with United and other carriers. Both regional carriers fly some flights under the United Express name.

SkyWest’s transaction with ManaAir, a company in which United Airlines has a minority interest, is expected to close in early 2019. The deal also includes ManaAir assuming ExpressJet’s liabilities.

Shortly after takeoff, the flight from Spokane, Wa., to Denver experienced the collision and “safely diverted” to Seattle.

United Airlines is displaying some very interesting promotional banners at its terminal at San Francisco International. LAFlyer shared a photo of the banners on Twitter a couple of days ago.

According to one of the banners, Apple is the airlines’ largest global account and contributes $150 million to United’s annual revenue.

Yes, $150 million annually.

Curious who are @United largest global corporate accounts? @Apple is in the top spot and contributes very much to success of SFO international flying especially the Shanghai service #UnitedAirlines #United #Apple #SFO #PVG #Shanghai #China pic.twitter.com/HNvIrz8wDg

— LAflyer (@LAflyr) January 11, 2019

San Francisco to Shanghai

The number one route for Apple is San Francisco (SFO) to Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG). As a matter of fact, Apple spends $35 million a year just on this route. This is roughly 25% of its annual spending with United. Amazingly, Apple purchases 50 business class seats for this route every day. It is not quite clear, however, if the tech giant buys 50 seats in total for both directions or 50 seats in each direction. Nevertheless, it is an astounding number.

Let’s take a closer look at these numbers. When we divide $35 million by 365 by 50, we get a cost of roughly $1,900 per ticket. This price seems very low at first. Nonetheless, a quick search on United’s website reveals that round-trip business class tickets from SFO to PVG are available for as little as $2,700. Is Apple getting a good deal, or is the company paying more for its seats? I would assume that the tech giant gets preferred pricing and pays $1,900 a round-trip ticket. However, there is no way for us to tell with the information provided.

It would also be interesting to know how many of the seats Apple is actually using. Is it really using all of the seats on a daily basis, or is it paying for them no matter if they are occupied or not?

United offers two daily flights between San Francisco and Shanghai. The flights are operated on a Boeing 787-8 and a Boeing 787-9. According to United’s seat maps, there are 36 business class seats on a 787-8 and 48 business class seats on a 787-9. Based on this information, we are looking at a total of 84 business class seats offered in each direction each day.

Even if we assume that Apple’s 50 seats a day are the total for both directions, this means that Apple occupies almost one-third of United’s business class seats between San Francisco and Shanghai. This is definitely quite a bit.

Apple’s Primary Destinations

Apple’s headquarters are located about 30 miles from SFO, so it makes perfect sense that the tech giant uses this airport for most of its flights.

Anyway, here is the list of Apple’s primary destinations:

• PVG – Shanghai
• HKG – Hong Kong
• TPE – Taipei
• LHR – London
• ICN – Seoul
• SIN – Singapore
• MUC – Munich
• HND – Tokyo
• PEK – Beijing
• TLV – Tel Aviv

Other Large Accounts

Corporate accounts are very important for the airlines, and, apparently, United has other large accounts in the Bay Area as well. Even though they contribute less to United’s annual revenue combined than Apple does by itself, Facebook, Roche, and Google spend over $34 million each a year making them number 2. Deloitte, McKinsey Company, Cisco, Applied Materials, PwC, and Oracle come in behind them with $12 million to $17 million a year followed by Intel, Visa, and Chevron with over $10 million a year. Still not too shabby.

Although the banners were made to promote United Airlines and convince people to “fly California’s global airline,” they provide interesting information about the amount of money large corporations spend on air travel every year.

Did you expect these companies to spend this much on air travel?

United has just gained another notch on its belt, becoming the world’s second business airline by passenger numbers in 2018.

The airline closely beat out Delta’s numbers last year (and dethroning them from the title that they have held since 2015), only being trumped by American Airlines.

How many passengers did United Airlines transport in 2018?

Straight up, the carrier flew 230.2 billion revenue passenger miles, five billion more miles than near competitor Delta. This is surprising as Delta actually just over 100 more jets than United, and yet United seemed to have used them far more efficiently.

They have done this through increasing their passenger capacity by up to 6% in 2018, adding in new routes, new jets, and new aircraft configurations. They also focused on key hub airports, adding routes to and from hubs like Denver, Houston, and Chicago.

“Our goal is not to be the biggest, we want to be the best and as we implement our strategy, we are looking to build on this momentum in 2019.” – Megan McCarthy, United Spokesperson told Bloomberg

This news mirrors the companies share price, that has risen 24% over the last year. Eight other comparable airlines on the American SP index lost value over the year.

Will their growth continue into 2019?

It is very likely that United will be able to stay competitive for this title in 2019. They have the following planned initiatives to keep the competition on their toes:

• United is launching another 22 new domestic routes and 11 regional jet routes.
• They are also adding new routes with their fleet of Boeing 787-10 Dreamliners (The largest capacity Dreamliner and a competitor to the Airbus A350)
• New international routes (for example the seven new routes out of San Fransisco).
• They are also considering the possibility of all business class flights across the Atlantic.

This position will drive passenger numbers and continue to make United a dominated player. However, Delta might have them beaten on regional networks, with their new fleet of Airbus A220 aircraft taking to the sky in 2019.

Naturally, this award is based on passenger numbers and not on actual service or quality customer experience. Additionally, it is not the award for profit (which will be revealed soon when airlines release their Q4 2018 results) which would be an indicator of how good a business they are. This is just a measure of how they gained the 2nd most passengers in the world.

It remains to be seen how the airline will do. What do you think? Let us know in the comments below!

Apple buys fifty business class seats on United Airlines from San Francisco (SFO) to Shanghai, China (PVG) each day, according to promotional banners for United that were shared on Twitter today by LAflyer.

Curious who are @United largest global corporate accounts? @Apple is in the top spot and contributes very much to success of SFO international flying especially the Shanghai service #UnitedAirlines #United #Apple #SFO #PVG #Shanghai #China

Apple is United’s largest global account bringing in $150 million annually. It’s followed by Facebook, Roche, and Google at over $34 million and Deloitte, McKinsey Company, Cisco, Applied Materials, PWC, and Oracle at $12 million to $17 million. Intel, Visa, and Chevron have accounts worth over $10 million annually.

United says that its most important market for Apple is SFO – PVG. That route accounts for $35 million in annual revenue which is around 25% of Apple’s annual spend.

Primary Routes for Apple:
1. PVG (Shanghai, China)
2. HKG (Hong Kong)
3. TPE (Taoyuan, Taiwan)
4. LHR (Heathrow, London)
5. ICN (Incheon, Seoul, South Korea)
6. SIN (Changi, Singapore)
7. MUC (Munich, Germany)
8. HND (Haneda, Tokyo, Japan)
9. PEK (Beijing, China)
10. TLV (Tel Aviv, Israel)

Read More [via Alex]

A US-bound passenger flight made an emergency landing at Shannon Airport on Saturday after the crew declared a medical emergency over the Atlantic.

United Airlines flight UA-879 was about three hours into its journey from London to Houston, Texas when forced to turn around.

The flight was over the Atlantic about an hour south west of Ireland at the time.

There were 199 passengers and a crew of 14 on board.  

The flight crew made contact with controllers at the Irish Aviation Authority’s North Atlantic Communications Centre at Ballygirreen in Co Clare to inform them of their situation.

The crew confirmed they needed to dump aviation fuel to ensure the Boeing 777-200 jet touched down within safe landing weight limits.

Airport fire and rescue crews were standing by for the aircraft when it landed safely shortly after 3pm.

Ambulance paramedics and airport authorities were also waiting for the aircraft at the terminal.

The ill passenger was removed to University Hospital Limerick for treatment.

An airline spokesperson said: “United flight 879 (London Heathrow – Houston) diverted to Shannon Airport due to a medical emergency on board.

“The aircraft landed safely at 3.02 p.m. (local time). We apologise to our customers for the inconvenience caused.”

The flight continued to the US soon before 5.30pm.

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The Visa and United Airlines app, United MileagePlus X, is getting an upgrade, allowing members of the program the opportunity to earn awards miles on their everyday purchases, Visa announced on Thursday (Jan. 10).

The loyalty program inside the app, called United Visa Rewards, is powered by the Visa Commerce Network, Visa’s specific loyalty platform. It is available to United Chase Visa cardholders who live in the United States. Once they have enrolled their eligible card through the app, members can peruse all of the enhanced mileage-related offerings from different merchants in the program.

Everything happens in real time – once someone makes a qualifying purchase, they will get a notification inside the app. Members who enroll by March 31 can earn 1,000 miles by adding an eligible card.

The Visa Commerce Network, which was introduced in 2016, allows merchants to connect with customers online in in the app, increasing loyalty and pushing sales. Also, cardholders who use Uber can get rewards through Visa Local Offers with Uber, saving on upcoming rides when they dine or shop.

The Visa Commerce Network is available through commerce APIs developed on Visa’s network, the company said.

Honda also recently teamed up with Visa to offer a payment in the car program. Called the Honda Dream Drive prototype, it’s being billed as the “next generation of infotainment, commerce, services and rewards.”

In a press release on Tuesday (Jan. 8), Olabisi Boyle, vice president of IoT at Visa, said that “by continuing our partnership with Honda, a leader in automotive innovation, we are furthering the development of in-car commerce solutions that focus on security, safety and convenience for the driver. Combining Visa’s payment expertise and Honda’s expansive platform, we are one step closer to transforming the car into a new epicenter for commerce.”

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