Apple Buys 50 Business Class Seats From San Francisco to Shanghai Every Day

Apple is United Airlines' biggest customer at the San Francisco International Airport, according to signs the airline has available that were shared on Twitter today.

According to United, Apple spends $150 million on airline tickets each year, and purchases 50 business class seats on flights to Shanghai every day.

appleairlineflightsunitedsfo

Apple has many suppliers in China, which explains why the company sends so many employees to the Shanghai Pudong Airport.

Apple spends $35 million each year on flights from SFO to Shanghai, which is the number one flight the company purchases. Other routes are also popular, with Apple employees flying between these top 10 locations frequently:

1. Shanghai (PVG)
2. Hong Kong (HKG)
3. Taipei (TPE)
4. London (LHR)
5. South Korea (ICN)
6. Singapore (SIN)
7. Munich (MUC)
8. Tokyo (HND)
9. Beijing (PEK)
10. Israel (TLV)

Apple has more than 130,000 employees across its retail and corporate locations, and its headquarters is located in Cupertino, California. The San Francisco International Airport, located near Millbrae, California and south of San Francisco, is the closest major airport for international flights.

This statistic accounts solely for the flights taken from SFO. Apple has campuses in other locations around the world, and the San Jose International Airport is also nearby, so this is likely just a fraction of the airline travel that Apple funds.

As The Verge's Nilay Patel points out, statistics like these are a reminder of the huge number of employees that Apple has working behind the scenes on the devices that we use every day.

Apple is by far the biggest United airline customer in the Bay Area, and its $150 million spending total far outranks Facebook, Roche, and Google, companies that each spend over $34 million on United flights annually.

Popular Stories

iOS 26 Feature

iOS 26.1 to iOS 26.4 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Wednesday October 1, 2025 1:26 pm PDT by
iOS 26 was released last month, but the software train never stops, and iOS 26.1 beta testing is already underway. So far, iOS 26.1 makes both Apple Intelligence and Live Translation on compatible AirPods available in additional languages, and it includes some other minor changes across Apple Music, Calendar, Photos, and Safari. More features and changes will follow in future versions,...
john ternus on stage

Gurman: Major Apple Leadership Shakeup Impending With John Ternus as Next CEO

Monday October 6, 2025 6:21 am PDT by
Apple is entering its most significant leadership transition in more than a decade as multiple senior executives prepare to depart and CEO Tim Cook begins to shape the company's next generation of leaders, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In the latest edition of his "Power On" newsletter, Gurman explained that Jeff Williams, who was viewed as Cook's potential successor for several...
iPhone 17 vs Air and Pros Feature

New iPhones See 'Stronger Than Expected' Demand With One Exception

Thursday October 2, 2025 7:26 am PDT by
Nearly two weeks after the iPhone 17 series launched, analysts at investment banking firm Morgan Stanley said demand for the devices has been "modestly stronger than we originally expected," based on a combination of extended shipping estimates on Apple's online store and information it gathered from Apple's supply chain. There has been strong early demand for the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro,...
iOS 26 Feature

iOS 26 Adds These 200 New Features and Changes to Your iPhone

Saturday October 4, 2025 8:19 am PDT by
Apple's website offers a list of nearly 200 new features and changes (PDF file) included in the software update, released last month. Apple also shared equivalent lists for iPadOS 26 and macOS Tahoe. iOS 26 is compatible with the iPhone 11 and newer. To install the update, open the Settings app on your iPhone, tap on General, and tap on Software Update. Below, we have highlighted eight ...
macbook air prime day 2025

M5 MacBook Air: Release Date, Features, and Performance Predictions

Friday October 3, 2025 3:39 am PDT by
The MacBook Air is Apple's most popular laptop – a thin, fanless machine that wields quiet power thanks to the efficiency of Apple silicon. While the M4 model isn't exactly old, attention is already turning to its successor. Apple doesn't telegraph new product launches ahead of time, but we can draw a surprisingly clear picture of what to expect by looking at Apple's silicon roadmap,...
iCloud iPhone 17 Pro

Apple Highlights Five Perks for iPhone Users Who Pay for iCloud Storage

Monday October 6, 2025 6:29 am PDT by
After launching new iPhones last month, Apple is promoting iCloud+ with a prominent banner on its home page, in a bid to boost its services revenue. In addition to more storage, all iCloud+ plans include five perks for iPhone users. As a refresher, iCloud includes 5GB of storage for free. If you want extra storage, you need to subscribe to an iCloud+ plan. In the United States, prices range...
ipad pro 2024

Next iPad Pro to Have Two Key Features, But One Rumor Still Uncertain

Sunday October 5, 2025 7:00 am PDT by
The next iPad Pro models are rumored to feature two key upgrades, including Apple's M5 chip, and an increased minimum of 12GB of RAM. Last week, apparent unboxing videos for the next-generation 13-inch iPad Pro were uploaded to YouTube by Russian channels Wylsacom and Romancev768. The same YouTube channels leaked the 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M4 chip before it was announced by Apple...
ipad mini 7 feature blue

iPad Mini 8 on the Way: Expected Features and Release Timeline

Monday October 6, 2025 5:05 am PDT by
A new iPad mini is "absolutely" on the way, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. So what should we expect from the successor to the iPad mini 7 that Apple released a year ago? Processor and Performance Apple is working on a next-generation version of the iPad mini (codename J510/J511) that features the A19 Pro chip, according to information found in code that Apple mistakenly shared in...

Top Rated Comments

sjinsjca Avatar
88 months ago
Can't imagine Apple will be happy with this being promoted.
Score: 80 Votes (Like | Disagree)
VulchR Avatar
88 months ago
You'd think they'd use FaceTime to save costs...
Score: 55 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Anarchy99 Avatar
88 months ago
You'd think they'd use FaceTime to save costs...
or to be green... oh wait thats just one of Apple's BS talking points
Score: 46 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GadgetBen Avatar
88 months ago
Isn’t customer account spend confidential?
Score: 41 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ryanwarsaw Avatar
88 months ago
The board discussed the costs and determined it was cheaper to buy these tickets than put a good FaceTime camera in their products so they can do conference calls.
Score: 41 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Enclavean Avatar
88 months ago
Jony Ive must have heard their platinum cards were 20% thinner
Score: 38 Votes (Like | Disagree)