United Airlines Flight UA8 took off from Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport at 9:50 a.m. Wednesday, which is the first-ever nonstop flight from Chengdu to San Francisco. United is the first carrier to fly nonstop from the U.S. to mainland China beyond Beijing and Shanghai and the first U.S. carrier to serve Chengdu.

The nonstop service is operated thrice weekly with Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The flight takes only 14 hours, shaving nearly four hours off the typical travel time between the two cities.