In early 1989, five airlines were operating nonstop wide body jetliner flights from Papeete to Los Angeles (LAX) including Air France, Air New Zealand and Qantas with all three operating Boeing 747 service while at the same time Continental Airlines and UTA were both operating McDonnell Douglas DC-10 service on the route with a combined total of ten nonstops a week being operated by the five air carriers to LAX. From LAX, the Air France flights continued on to Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) while the Qantas flights continued on to San Francisco (SFO). In addition, UTA was operating three DC-10 flights a week nonstop to San Francisco (SFO) at this same time with two of these flights continuing on to Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) while the third flight continued on to LAX.