Fares on the already competitive trans-Pacific market to Australia will remain under pressure after United Airlines announced it will launch ultra-long-haul flights between Houston and Sydney.

The new service, which is still subject to government approval, is expected to start January 18 using Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners and will be the only non-stop flight between Houston and Sydney.

It will be a direct competitor to the Dallas-Fort Worth service flown by Qantas using Airbus A380s and wiill allow United to more conveniently connect cities on the US East Coast to Australia.

The US carrier currently serves Sydney non-stop through its West Coast hubs in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The 8596-mile (13,833km) route will be United’s second longest and is another example of airlines using the greater range of new aircraft to open up new routes previously not possible.

It also means United will fly the three longest routes of any US carrier: Los Angeles-Singapore, San Francisco-Singapore and Houston-Sydney.

The airline said the new route underscored its commitment to its Houston hub.

“Our Houston hub is stronger than ever and it continues to be an absolutely vital part of our industry-leading network,’’ United president Scott Kirby said in a statement.

“We are honored to have served this vibrant city for nearly half a century, and this exciting intercontinental flight is one more way we are demonstrating United’s commitment to our customers who call Houston home as well as the millions of customers who connect through Houston each year.

“This new route will serve more than 70 cities across North America making one-stop service to Sydney faster and more convenient than ever before.”

United gave the example of a customer originating in Charlotte, North Carolina,  who would have to fly to Chicago and San Francisco to get Sydney.

That customer would be able to shave hours off the journey by flying to Houston and reducing the number of connections, it said.

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Houston will be Sydney’s sixth US destination and the service will add about 184,000 seats a year on US routes.

“With Sydney Airport facilitating 58 per cent of the passenger movements between the US and Australia, we’re delighted to welcome United Airlines’ new service,” Sydney Airport chief executive Kerrie Mather said.

“Houston is an extremely powerful transport hub, with this service connecting Sydney to 70 cities in key US and South American destinations.”

The new flights will leave Houston at 8pm and arrive in Sydney at 6.30am two days later. They depart Sydney at 11.50am and arrive in Houston the same day at 10.35am.

United’s 787-9 will be fitted with 252 seats, including 48 Polaris flat-bed seats in business class, 63 Economy Plus seats and 141 in economy.

The airline’s Economy Plus seats have a 35-inch seat pitch while its economy seats on the 787-9 have a 32-inch pitch. However, both are narrow at 17.3 inches.

United Economy offers complimentary food, soft drinks, juices, beer and wine, tea, coffee and on-demand inflight entertainment.

A number of airlines have announced ultra-long-haul flights with Qantas planning to fly non-stop between Perth and London using the 787-9 and Singapore Airlines already flying to San Francisco with planned flights to Los Angeles and New York using an ultra long range version of the A350-900.

Virgin Australia is boosting its new Melbourne-Hong service to a business-friendly daily schedule from November 12.

The airline had been flying five times weekly using its Airbus A330-200 fleet, featuring 20 business class suites, as well as 255 economy seats in a 2-4-2 configuration.

Virgin’s business class was recognised by AirlineRating’s 2017 awards as the world’s best but its A330 economy seats are tighter than those international passengers are used to on the airline’s Boeing 777s, offering a 31-inch seat pitch and a width of 17.4 inches.

There are also eight “Economy X” seats that offer additional legroom, premium check-in and boarding, preferred overhead locker space, guaranteed first meal choice and noise-cancelling headsets.

The new schedule will see VA87 depart daily from Melbourne late morning to midday and return service VA86 depart Hong Kong each evening and arrive in Melbourne the next morning.

“Hong Kong is a very important part of our strategy for Asia,’’ said acting group executive Virgin Australia Rob Sharp said in a statement.

“Our schedule is also conveniently timed, enabling guests travelling from Australia to arrive early evening in Hong Kong and those travelling from Hong Kong to arrive in Melbourne in the morning.

“It also enables travellers to connect easily to other destinations in Australia and China, through our partner Hong Kong Airlines.’’

The Melbourne-Hong Kong route if the first step in plans by Virgin to increase its footprint in the region and capitalise on its Chinese connections. This includes plans to launch a service to mainland China.

It is codesharing with Hong Kong Airlines and the Australian competition regulator recently approved   a strategic alliance with Hong Kong Airlines, HK Express and HNA Aviation for five years.

The Aussie airline is offering codeshare services on Hong Kong Airlines’ five return services per week between Hong Kong and the Gold Coast and Cairns with an interline agreement on destinations in mainland China.

Hong Kong Airlines customers travelling to or from Hong Kong will enjoy codeshare flights to 11 destinations on the Virgin Australia network from July 5.

These include select flights within Australia as well as services between Melbourne and Hong Kong, Gold Coast and Auckland, Melbourne and Christchurch and Melbourne and Auckland.

A reciprocal partnership between Velocity Frequent Flyer and Fortune Wings Club — the loyalty program of Hong Kong Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Capital Airlines and Tianjin Airlines —  gives members of both loyalty programs the opportunity to earn points and status recognition on eligible routes across the airlines’ flight networks.

Lounge access is also available to Virgin Australia customers in a  new Hong Kong Airlines lounge, “Club Autus”, opening earlier this month and offering more convenient access to Virgin’s gate.

Located on the seventh floor of Hong Kong International Airport’s midfield concourse, the lounge is divided into sections catering for needs such as business, leisure, family and personal care.

The ability to redeem points is in the pipeline.

Talk may be cheap but it can be useful in dealing with flights if you own an Amazon Echo device and fly with United Airlines.

United has become the first US carrier to offer a “skill” using Amazon’s Alexa voice recognition service to allow customers to check in and ask a variety of questions about flights.

Passengers can ask questions about the amenities on board a flight or check on how it’s going by simply asking: “Alexa, ask United what is the status of my flight to San Francisco’’.

Customers whose Mileage Plus frequent flyer accounts are connected to Alexa will be able to check in using the command: “Alexa, ask United to check me in’’.

“Every day we connect nearly 400,000 customers to business meetings, loved ones and new adventures,” said Praveen Sharma, vice president of digital products and analytics at United.  “Introducing the new skill to check in and receive flight information with Alexa is an innovation that gives our customers extra time to prep for a business meeting, play with their children or relax as they get ready for their upcoming flight.”

United is not alone in investing in technology with airports and airlines expected to spend almost $US33 billion globally on IT this year.

A report released this week by l technology firm SITA found the top agendas for both airlines and airports were investments in cyber security and cloud services.

This included investments in passenger self-service and the use of mobile devices.

The SITA  IT Trends Insights 2017 report found airlines were sharply focused on mobile services, with 73 per cent currently providing check-in by mobile devices, 70 per cent providing boarding and 68 percent status notifications.

This was expected to top 97 per cent by 2020.

A key growth area was real-time flight updates over social media, something currently done by less than a third of airlines but forecast to be adopted by more than 90 per cent in the next three years.

The search is also on for a killer app: 94 per cent of airlines rated streamlining services into a single app as a priority, with more than half saying it was a “high priority”.

“Mobile app capabilities and usability are developing quickly and an increasing number of airlines plan to use mobile as a customer service tool, including at times of disruption,’’ the report said.

Self-service was a buzzword with airports, with almost 90 per cent planning to invest in self-service check-in, bag drop and boarding facilities.

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“Airports operators have a keen focus on improving the journey through the terminal and are looking to new technologies such as the Internet of Things, beacons and sensors, to support their goals,’’ the report said.  “SITA’s insights show that 80 per cent are investing, or planning to invest, in these technologies over the next three years.”