Report: United to open 787 base in Los Angeles

United Airlines will make Los Angeles its second base for pilots who fly its Boeing 787 Dreamliners, according to FlightGlobal.com's Edward Russell.

Russell writes "subsidiary Continental captains and first officers will fly the aircraft when the base opens," adding that "a timeline (for) when that will occur has not been set."

United first began flying the Dreamliner in November of 2012. Until now, the carrier's 787 pilot base has been at its hub at Houston Bush Intercontinental.

The establishment of a 787 pilot base at LAX comes as United increasingly looks to deploy its Dreamliners on Asian routes from the West Coast.

"Our 2014 international schedule has the 787 flying many routes to Asia," Howard Attarian, United's senior vice-president of flight operations, is quoted by FlightGlobal as saying in a September letter to United's flight operations group. "In August, we told you that we believe this amount of flying warrants a west coast 787 base to reliably support our network. We have decided that LAX is the right location for this 787 base."

United's trans-Pacific Dreamliner routes from the West Coast include flights from LAX to Shanghai and Tokyo Narita and soon-to-launch 787 routes between Seattle and Tokyo, San Francisco and Osaka and San Francisco and Chengdu, China.

Also in western United States, United offers a trans-Pacific flight to Tokyo out of its Denver hub.