United Airlines to stop daily Lagos-Houston flights by June end

United Airlines has finally decided to stop operating its daily flights services between key Nigerian city Lagos and Houston by the end of June 2016. The airline has cited various reasons, chiefly financial losses and obstacles in repatriating revenues earned in Nigeria. It may be noted that downturn in oil prices had severely impacted the energy-exporting Nigeria leading to currency restrictions imposition.

Media reports said that with United Airlines deciding to stop flights to Lagos from Houston, now Delta Air Lines will remain the only U.S. carrier to have a major footprint in Africa. The reports further stated that despite United Airlines deciding not to serve Nigeria, the country will still enjoy connectivity with the United States. Delta Air Lines is currently operating flights to Lagos from Atlanta, while Arik Air is conducting flights services on Lagos-New York route.

Travel experts have however said that the broader outlook is that the connectivity scene between Africa and America doesn’t look good. Delta Air Lines is the only U.S. carrier which has a monopoly on nonstop flights to Africa. The airline is presently serving Lagos and Johannesburg from Atlanta, while Accra and Dakar are being served from New York. Earlier, United Airlines had launched flights to Accra from Washington D.C. in 2010 but stopped flying on the route only after two years. American Airlines and its merger partner US Airways have not conducted any flights services to Africa at all. Scott Kirby, President of American Airlines, had though in 2013 indicated that the airline would actively consider serving Africa from Miami. The airline’s plans are yet to be materialized.

African carriers are however not lagging behind when it comes to keep the continent connected to the United States. Currently, five airlines from Africa are operating nonstop flights services to the United States. These include Cape Verde’s TACV, Nigeria’s Arik Air, Royal Air Maroc, Ethiopian Airlines and South African Airways. The capacity of these five carriers on nonstop U.S. routes has also significantly increased by 22 percent over the past five years.