Australian Flight Data

San Francisco to Melbourne

USA · 234 months of data from Jan 1985 · Melbourne to San Francisco

Passengers
72,947
San Francisco to Melbourne, 12 months to Jun 2026
Both directions
145,289
including Melbourne to San Francisco
Flight time
15h 55m
1h 45m longer than the return
Load factor
79%
seats filled on this leg

Traffic: 12 months to Jun 2026

72,947 passengers flew San Francisco to Melbourne in the 12 months to Jun 2026, out of 145,289 on the route in both directions. Flights run about 79% full, much the same in both directions.

Passenger history milestones

Recorded milestones use this city-pair passenger series, with both directions combined. A first positive record is not a service-launch date; complete calendar years require all twelve observed, non-null months.

First positive passenger record
Jan 1985
first recorded month with passengers > 0
Latest complete year · also peak
2025
144,205 passengers

The route

Melbourne San Francisco

Distances are true from Melbourne; the ring marks the distance to San Francisco.

How long is the flight?

Scheduled flight time from San Francisco to Melbourne is 15h 55m gate to gate, over 12,641 km. Coming back takes 14h 10m — a difference of 1h 45m, so this direction is the slower one.

Scheduled block time — gate to gate, not time in the air — taken from the current timetable for this leg. Long-haul flights are often timetabled differently in each direction because of winds aloft, so the return is not always the same length. Check your own booking for the flight you are taking.

Flight numbers on this route

1 flight number currently scheduled from San Francisco to Melbourne. These are the numbers you book under.

Scheduled every day this week — 7 departures in all.

United · 1 · Boeing 787-9

UA60

Current timetable as at 2026-09-06

Timetables change, and these carry no punctuality figures of their own — no on-time data is published for international flights at all. The passenger and load factor figures above cover the route, not any single flight number.

Passengers, 1985 to 2026

06,74713,494 Jun 2025Dec 2025Jun 2026
07,04114,081Bonza launches on leisure routes — Nov 2023 Bonza collapses after 15 months — Mar 2024 Rex enters administration and exits the trunk routes — Aug 2024 Cyclone Alfred closes south-east Queensland airports — Mar 2025 Jun 2022Jun 2024Jun 2026
07,04114,081Tigerair Australia stops flying — Feb 2020 COVID-19 border closures begin — Mar 2020 The deepest month: domestic traffic falls 96% — Apr 2020 Rex enters the trunk routes with jets — Mar 2021 Delta lockdowns close the eastern states — Jul 2021 Omicron wave hits crew availability — Jan 2022 Bonza launches on leisure routes — Nov 2023 Bonza collapses after 15 months — Mar 2024 Rex enters administration and exits the trunk routes — Aug 2024 Cyclone Alfred closes south-east Queensland airports — Mar 2025 Sep 2018Aug 2022Jun 2026

Gaps indicate missing observations, not zero values.

07,04114,081The pilots' dispute grounds domestic aviation — Aug 1989 Domestic deregulation ends the Two Airline Policy — Oct 1990 Virgin Blue launches — Aug 2000 Ansett Australia collapses — Sep 2001 Jetstar launches — May 2004 OzJet's all-business experiment ends within months — Jan 2006 Tiger Airways Australia enters the market — Apr 2008 Volcanic ash cloud disrupts southern Australia — Jun 2011 Qantas grounds its entire fleet — Oct 2011 Skywest becomes Virgin Australia Regional Airlines — May 2013 Tigerair Australia stops flying — Feb 2020 COVID-19 border closures begin — Mar 2020 The deepest month: domestic traffic falls 96% — Apr 2020 Rex enters the trunk routes with jets — Mar 2021 Delta lockdowns close the eastern states — Jul 2021 Omicron wave hits crew availability — Jan 2022 Bonza launches on leisure routes — Nov 2023 Bonza collapses after 15 months — Mar 2024 Rex enters administration and exits the trunk routes — Aug 2024 Cyclone Alfred closes south-east Queensland airports — Mar 2025 Jun 2000: 322Apr 2006: 55Jul 2010: 341Jan 1985Oct 2005Jun 2026

Gaps indicate missing observations, not zero values.

To Jun 2026 · Marks show industry events

How full were the flights?

Inbound load factor, read as a floor rather than an exact figure. Some flights on this pair also carried passengers to and from other cities, and their seats cannot be split between those journeys. Dividing by every seat on every aircraft that touched the route gives the lowest the true figure can be, so actual occupancy is at or above the line. Seat data begins in 2009, so this series is shorter than the passenger chart above.

60%75%90% Jun 2025Dec 2025Jun 2026
39%66%94% Jun 2022Jun 2024Jun 2026

Gaps indicate missing observations, not zero values.

39%66%94% Sep 2018Aug 2022Jun 2026

Gaps indicate missing observations, not zero values.

4%49%94% Apr 2006: 4%Jul 2010: 91%Apr 2006May 2016Jun 2026

Gaps indicate missing observations, not zero values.

Load factor: seats data from 2009

When is this route busiest?

Average passengers by calendar month over the last ten years, relative to the annual average.

J: 1.18× the annual average J F: 0.84× the annual average F M: 1.05× the annual average M A: 1.08× the annual average A M: 1.02× the annual average M J: 0.98× the annual average J J: 1.00× the annual average J A: 0.92× the annual average A S: 0.90× the annual average S O: 0.91× the annual average O N: 0.98× the annual average N D: 1.13× the annual average D

Freight

Tonnes of air freight carried on this route — a dimension the domestic data does not have at all.

0169337 Jun 2025Dec 2025Jun 2026
0266533 Jun 2022Jun 2024Jun 2026
0266533 Sep 2018Aug 2022Jun 2026

Gaps indicate missing observations, not zero values.

0266533 Feb 1999: 5Apr 1999: 1Jun 2000: 26Apr 2006: 0Jul 2010: 0Jan 1985Oct 2005Jun 2026

Gaps indicate missing observations, not zero values.

To Jun 2026

The route in numbers

Busiest month on record14,081 · Jan 2024
Data coverageJan 1985 – Jun 2026 (234 months)
Freight, 12 months to Jun 20263,347 tonnes
Destination regionUSA

No punctuality data is published for international services, so there are no cancellation or on-time figures on this page. That series covers domestic routes only.

Related routes

From Melbourne

To San Francisco

Airport data