Jun. 29—United Airlines, San Francisco International Airport's biggest carrier, will add up to 4,000 jobs in the Bay Area as part of a 270-plane expansion of its domestic fleet.
United is buying new aircraft from Boeing and Airbus to boost the number of seats on domestic flights by 30% by 2026, a major bet that travel will rebound as the pandemic fades in the U.S. The company plans to add 25,000 jobs across the Newark, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Houston, Denver and Los Angeles airports. The expansion is expected to contribute $50 billion to the U.S. economy by 2026.
"San Francisco is an important global gateway for United Airlines," Andrew Nocella, United chief commercial officer, told The Chronicle. "We're excited to invest in San Francisco."
Leisure traffic has returned or exceeded pre-pandemic levels, but business travel still lags, Nocella said. Corporate conferences at Moscone Center are still months away, but many vaccinated people are eager to travel this summer.
United expects to have a profit in July, for the first time since the pandemic crippled air travel. The company's revenue in the first quarter of 2021 was $3.22 billion, down 60% from the previous year.
SFO is the company's main hub for travel to Asia, where traffic demand is still trailing Europe and South America. Mainland China and Japan aren't open to U.S. tourists. But Nocella expects demand to rebound by mid-2022.
The order includes 50 Boeing 737 Max 8 airliners, 150 737 Max 10s and 70 Airbus A321neos — all narrow-body planes. The aircraft have more seats and larger storage bins compared to existing planes. United also plans to renovate its existing narrow-body planes to the same interior standards by 2025.
The increased number of seats per plane is particularly important at SFO, because the airport is constrained and can't expand beyond its four runways, limiting United's ability to add more flights. Fog also cuts capacity in half. An early 2000s proposal to fill part of the bay to expand runways was scrapped after protests and high cost projections.
"This order is really key to a place like San Francisco," Nocella said.
The airline has also added wide-bodied jets to SFO to keep up with demand, such as to four Hawaiian islands this summer. Demand for nature destinations like Montana and Oregon has also been growing steadily, as customers flocked to outdoor activities during the pandemic.
Nocella expects the airline's flight service at SFO to return to pre-pandemic levels later this year.
The airline averted 3,000 furloughs at SFO in March after Congress passed additional federal aid for the industry.
United said earlier this month that it would buy 15 ultrafast jets from Boom Supersonic, a startup that is developing a plane that has yet to be built and certified.
Roland Li is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @rolandlisf
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