United Adds Non-Stop Service From Houston To Sydney

HOUSTON, TX — Flying to the land down under just got one step simpler for Houstonians. Within the last week, United has begun offering non-stop service from George Bush Intercontinental Airport to Sydney, Australia. Houston becomes only the third American city — Los Angeles and San Francisco the other two — with such non-stop service to Sydney.

This is another big boon to the area's growing international flight service. In 2016, there were more than 11 million passengers on international flights between Bush (IAH) and Hobby (HOU) airports. Of the top 10 international destinations, four are in Mexico, two are in Central America, two in Europe and two in Canada.

The top 10 flights in 2016 (with number of passengers per destination) were:

1. Mexico City, Mexico: 955,019
2. Cancun, Mexico: 836,890
3. London, United Kingdom: 497,006
4. San José, Costa Rica: 440,875
5. Calgary, Canada: 440,351
6. Frankfort, Germany: 417,844
7. Apodaca, Mexico: 372,057
8. San Salvador, El Salvador: 325,208
9. San José del Cabo, Mexico: 314,645
10. Toronto, Canada: 299,930

Bush Intercontinental announced in November direct flights to the Bahamas, and the airport has requested direct flights to Havana, Cuba, after former President Barack Obama lifted the long-time travel ban.

Of the 11 million international travelers in 2016, 53 percent of them flew United Airlines, according to a report in the Houston Business Journal.

Image: United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz holds a retro ticket jacket before United Airlines flight 747 takes off on its final flight from San Francisco International Airport to Honolulu, Hawaii on November 7, 2017 in San Francisco, California. United Airlines is retiring its fleet of Boeing 747 aircraft that are affectionately known as the 'Queen of the Skies' and marked the occassion with a final flight from San Francisco to Honolulu, Hawaii. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)