United Airlines has announced that it will expand its service between Washington Dulles and Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Nigeria (Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa). United will increase its flights to the Nigerian city of Lagos from three times a week to daily flights. These flights are scheduled to begin from December 4, 2024, to February 14, 2025. In total, United plans to offer six routes to Africa to four countries (South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana and Morocco), a new record for United’s presence in Africa.

United significantly expands its flights to Nigeria

United Airlines’ announcement represents a 133% increase in seats between Washington DC and Lagos compared to last year (arch-rival Delta also offers nonstop flights from the US to Lagos). United launched its Washington-Lagos service in 2021 (flights were suspended between 2010 and 2016) using a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. These United Dreamliners are equipped with 28 United Polaris Business Class seats, 21 United Premium Plus Premium Economy seats, 36 Economy Plus seats and an additional 158 standard economy seats.

Photo: United Airlines

The flight distance from Washington Dulles to Lagos is 5,442 miles and the scheduled flight duration is 10 hours and 40 minutes. According to aviation analytics firm Cirium, United has scheduled flights to Lagos for the month of August departing on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. These three flights have a weekly capacity of 729 seats (with 243 seats on each flight).

In January 2025, United flights from Washington Dulles to Lagos are scheduled to increase to seven weekly flights with a total of 1,701 seats in each direction.

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The wide-body aircraft that serve United Airlines’ routes to Africa

United currently operates five flights to three African countries, but plans to offer six flights by the end of the year.

The US’s connections to Africa

The US remains poorly connected to Africa. Although the continent includes 56 countries, US airlines only offer flights to five of them (Delta also offers flights to Senegal). Only Morocco in North Africa is served by US airlines (Delta once served Egypt, but those flights have since been discontinued). However, some African airlines offer flights to the US (for example, Egyptair offers flights to North America).

In addition, African countries are often poorly connected to each other, and West African countries are often better connected to Europe than other destinations in Africa.

Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Easy flying

United also offers flights to Accra in Ghana and Cape Town and Johannesburg in South Africa. Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and South Africa are the only countries south of the Sahara that are served directly by US airlines. United will also start flights to the popular oasis city of Marrakesh in Morocco in October. Delta Air Lines, on the other hand, sees potential in Africa and wants to increase its presence in the continent.