United Airlines Begins Daily Flights from Lagos to Washington D.C.

Chinedu Eze

United Airlines has announced increase in service delivery between Lagos and Washington D.C., from three-times weekly to daily flights.

The daily flights will begin from December 4, 2024 to February 14, 2025, reflecting 133 per cent year-over-year increase in seats for the period.

This will be the first time United’s service between Lagos and Washington D.C. will operate daily and the flight continues to be the only night-time departure from Lagos to the U.S., enabling customers in Nigeria to benefit from more travel options to visit Washington D.C., as well as convenient day-time connections to destinations across the Americas.

Since the launch of United’s Lagos to Washington service in 2021, United has operated flights with state-of-the-art Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft featuring 28 United Polaris business class lie-flat seats, 21 United Premium Plus premium economy seats, 36 Economy Plusseats and 158 standard economy seats. The revolutionary design of the Dreamliner offers customers many features for increased comfort, such as large windows, spacious overhead storage, and modern LED lighting to simulate a full day, helping passengers adjust their internal clock on the transatlantic flight.

United’s Country Sales Manager for Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa, Oluwatomi Bola-Sadipe, said: “Africa continues to be an integral part of United’s global network and we are delighted to announce an increase of flights from Lagos to Washington Dulles during the winter season with our state-of-the-art 787 Dreamliner aircraft. We are proud to not only offer our customers in Nigeria even greater travel choice when booking their next U.S. getaway, but also provide convenient one-stop connections to over 70 destinations across the Americas, including Houston, Chicago, and New York/Newark.”

The increase of flights from Lagos to Washington D.C. comes as United, this year, expanded its presence on the second largest continent in the world, adding Marrakesh, Morocco to its network in Africa from October 25, 2024. United will be the first and only airline to operate nonstop flights from Marrakesh to the U.S. and operates routes from Cape Town, South Africa to New York/Newark and Washington D.C, Johannesburg, South Africa to New York/Newark and Accra, Ghana to Washington D.C.

Bola-Sadipe explained that United Polaris business class is a premium travel experience that prioritizes relaxation and comfort, featuring quality inflight dining, amenity products and services from Therabody and Saks Fifth Avenue and full flat-bed seats with all aisle access.

United Premium Plus features a spacious seat with more legroom, elbow room and recline than a standard Economy Plus or economy seat, as well as an amenity kit, Saks Fifth Avenue blanket and plush pillow.

United Economy Plus offers added legroom and increased personal space. Located near the front of the economy cabin, the seats give the added benefit of a swifter exit from the plane on arrival. Economy Plus seating is available on all trans-Atlantic flights.

United economy offers complimentary food, soft drinks, juices, beer and wine, tea, coffee and inflight entertainment. On most aircraft, seats feature an adjustable headrest and a personal on-demand entertainment system.

United originally served Nigeria from 2010 to 2016 and resumed service in 2021. Today, United offers customers in Nigeria a nonstop three-times weekly service, increasing to daily during the winter season, from Lagos to Washington, D.C. United customers in Nigeria can book flights online by visiting united.com.

United currently operates over 200 daily flights to 107 destinations across the United States and around the world from its Washington Dulles hub. Washington Dulles serves as the international gateway to the U.S. capital, with United service to 21 world capitals and 29 countries during 2024.

According to United Airlines Director Sales, Continental Europe, Middle East, Africa, Israel and India, Thorsten Lettnin, United has become the largest airline in the world. As pioneer member of Star Alliance, it connects customers to most destinations in the world. The airline also has the largest aircraft on order with a firm order of modern 500 aircraft.  Lettnin indicated that United Airlines would be receiving 100 aircraft every year for five consecutive years.

Also, the United Airlines app is the ultimate travel companion for its customers’ next flight. From planning to booking, and even on the day of travel, this app has got the airline’s customers covered.

United Airlines, African network would comprise the six new routes from its Newark and Washington Dulles hubs. The most significant development is the start of Marrakech, the first time the ever-popular Morrocan city will have US flights.

While it is not news, it is worth summarizing what is happening with United to Morocco. Flights were announced in early March, becoming United’s fifth destination in Africa with its own metal. Until 2024, Marrakech had never had North American flights. Now, it will welcome United and Air Transat (from Montreal).

United’s three weekly services will begin on October 24 and use the 167-seat Boeing 767-300ER. These are its low-capacity machines with 46 Polaris seats, which seems like an enormous number for the route, which will be a mixture of tourists and diaspora.

United routes also include higher-end leisure markets, including Newark to Nice this summer. It will be fascinating to see how the variant does in Morocco, although there are plenty of luxury tours.

Simple Flying reported that United Airlines’ largest transatlantic hub sits across the Hudson River from the bustling city of New York and serves destinations across the globe. The carrier completely dominates traffic at the airport, maintaining a market share of over 68 per cent in 2023, way ahead of second-placed Spirit Airlines, which commanded a 5.7 per cent market share last year.

Unsurprisingly, with more than 33 million passengers annually at the airport, United Airlines’ international route network from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) is expansive and dynamic. While the airport serves as a key linchpin for the carrier’s transatlantic operations, the airline also flies to various Latin American, African, Middle Eastern, and Asian destinations.

Given its status as a major transatlantic hub, it is natural that European destinations are at the forefront of the carrier’s international operations at EWR. In total, United Airlines serves almost 20 year-round destinations in the continent, alongside more than a dozen other seasonal locations.

As one would expect, the carrier’s year-round destinations are usually high-volume traditional hub-and-spoke style destinations, such as London Heathrow Airport (LHR) or Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG), as well as Frankfurt Airport (FRA), which is a hub for United Airlines’ fellow Star Alliance member airline, Lufthansa. London Heathrow was Newark’s busiest international route last year, with almost 800,000 passengers.

On these high-demand destinations, United Airlines traditionally flies its high-capacity Boeing 777-200 and 777-300ER aircraft. Some smaller year-round destinations see service with Boeing 767 and 787 jets.

The airline’s seasonal routes in Europe are a bit more fascinating to explore, as many are lower-demand destinations less traditionally served by a hub-and-spoke legacy carrier like United Airlines. Thankfully, the airline has a Swiss army knife of an aircraft on its side – the Boeing 757.