Apple spends $150M a year on United flights, Shanghai is No. 1 destination
A pair of promotional banners created by United Airlines to tout its various business relationships with big-name companies reveals a sneak peek into Apple's global operations, with the tech giant reportedly spending some $150 million each year on flights for employees.
Source: LAFlyer via Twitter
The signage, spotted by LAFlyer, is on display at United's terminal in the San Francisco International Airport, the jumping off point for many Apple-purchased flights. SFO serves residents and scores of tech companies operating in the Bay Area and is less than an hour's drive from both Apple's One Infinite Loop and Apple Park headquarters.
Generating $150 million in yearly revenue, Apple represents United's largest global account. Others on the list, including Facebook, Roche and Google, are credited as contributing "over $34 million" a year in revenue to United's bottom line.
Interestingly, the airline goes into specifics regarding Apple's movements, noting Shanghai as the company's most important market. More pointedly, Apple spends $35 million on flights from San Francisco to Shanghai Pudong International Airport -- an average of 50 business class seats daily -- representing a quarter of its annual spend with United.
Shanghai acts as a major hub for scores of regional airports in China, many of which are located near Apple's numerous partner suppliers across the country.
Outside of Shanghai, Apple's top-ten destinations include Hong Kong, Taipei, London, South Korea, Singapore, Munich, Tokyo, Beijing and Israel, respectively. As can be expected, Apple owns office space or deals with suppliers based in each of those locations.
Though the promotional material is designed to goose confidence in United's business, it also provides valuable insight into Apple's behind-the-scenes operations that goes beyond information found in quarterly earnings reports and other public disclosures.
It should be noted that the statistics offered by United relate mainly to San Francisco operations. Thousands of Apple employees are stationed at other U.S. campuses, like facilities in Texas and North Carolina, and likely rely on United for their business travel needs.
Source: LAFlyer via Twitter
The signage, spotted by LAFlyer, is on display at United's terminal in the San Francisco International Airport, the jumping off point for many Apple-purchased flights. SFO serves residents and scores of tech companies operating in the Bay Area and is less than an hour's drive from both Apple's One Infinite Loop and Apple Park headquarters.
Generating $150 million in yearly revenue, Apple represents United's largest global account. Others on the list, including Facebook, Roche and Google, are credited as contributing "over $34 million" a year in revenue to United's bottom line.
Interestingly, the airline goes into specifics regarding Apple's movements, noting Shanghai as the company's most important market. More pointedly, Apple spends $35 million on flights from San Francisco to Shanghai Pudong International Airport -- an average of 50 business class seats daily -- representing a quarter of its annual spend with United.
Shanghai acts as a major hub for scores of regional airports in China, many of which are located near Apple's numerous partner suppliers across the country.
Outside of Shanghai, Apple's top-ten destinations include Hong Kong, Taipei, London, South Korea, Singapore, Munich, Tokyo, Beijing and Israel, respectively. As can be expected, Apple owns office space or deals with suppliers based in each of those locations.
Though the promotional material is designed to goose confidence in United's business, it also provides valuable insight into Apple's behind-the-scenes operations that goes beyond information found in quarterly earnings reports and other public disclosures.
It should be noted that the statistics offered by United relate mainly to San Francisco operations. Thousands of Apple employees are stationed at other U.S. campuses, like facilities in Texas and North Carolina, and likely rely on United for their business travel needs.
Comments
But what idiot or (unmanaged team of idiots) thought it was a good idea to share private customer data as a public marketing campaign>
This is like data from an internal powerpoint presentation.. oh, those wacky millennials in marketing... If this is how United pays attention to details, I wonder how equipment inspections are going...
https://seatguru.com/airlines/United_Airlines/United_Airlines_Boeing_787-900.php
Maybe I’m totally wrong though and they really do have that many people going to Shanghai every day. That seems crazy.
Totally! They are the WORST airline. I remember flying them a lot several decades ago and it was quite the opposite. Back then the employees were friendly and the planes weren't ridiculously cramped. I've had the misfortune of flying them a few times in the past ten years or so and they are just awful now. Some of the rudest, nastiest employees I've ever dealt with and the most uncomfortable planes. I'd rather flying standing than have to sit in those seats.
$150M also seems like a pretty absurd amount to spend on air travel annually. I'm having a hard time imagining why any company would need to spend that kind of money on air travel, especially these days with high speed internet, video conferencing and online collaboration tools. I understand that some things have to be handled in person, but at an average price of $2000/ticket, that's still 75,000 trips or 200+ employee flights per day. Doesn't that seem crazy?
I suspect there were quite a few partners that used to fly to Apple, and that pattern has reversed.
You can only have Apple people touring partners plants so many times... there’s a bigger issue here.
Not crazy, especially for a global company flying many employees international business class.
Also, this is just their United spend - we don’t know about their spend on other airlines.... as well as if Tim (and others in the C-suite) have private jet access like Steve did back when...
Anyway ... I have a friend who is an engineer for Apple ... flies to China at least 4-6 times a year.