United’s Expansion of Pacific Service Will Create 1,650 Jobs

SAN FRANCISCO — United Airlines, the nation’s second-largest airline, is planning a major expansion of transpacific service that will bring 1,650 new jobs to the San Francisco Bay area, company officials said.

The airline, which has chosen San Francisco to be its U.S. flight hub of Asian-bound flights, will acquire 38 more jets to add to its fleet. United has two jet maintenance bases at airports in San Francisco and Oakland.

Nearly 1,000 of the new jobs will be created in San Francisco and San Mateo counties. More than 600 will be in Alameda County. The new jobs will go to aircraft mechanics and cleaners, stock clerks, flight schedulers and planners, as well as ticket agents.

Reversal of Slump

Airline officials said late last week that they chose to expand here because of the company’s already sizable presence in the region.

With the new jobs, United will employ 17,000 people in the region and surpass Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and Safeway Stores Inc. to become the area’s seventh-largest employer.

The expansion will result in more United employees working in the San Francisco Bay area than in the company’s Chicago headquarters.

The airline now flies to Hong Kong, Osaka and Tokyo from San Francisco. It will add an additional Tokyo flight as well as flights to Seoul, Manila, Taipei and Sydney.

The announcement appears to signal a reversal of a recent slump in airline employment in the San Francisco Bay area. American Airlines plans to employ 2,500 people by 1991 as part of the flight hub it is building at San Jose International Airport.