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After years of operating a daily route from Houston to Lagos, United Airlines will stop flying to Nigeria next month. Their last fight will be on June 30th, ending the airline's only route to Africa. They confirmed this to a twitter user who asked them if it was true.
According to reports, United Airlines is ending their flights to Nigeria for two major reasons asides the one they mentioned above.
1, the weakness in the energy sector in Nigeria and 2. they (and other airlines) have been having difficulties collecting money from airline tickets sold in Nigeria.
Nigeria in the last few months have restricted the amount of money that can be moved abroad after the global slump in oil prices depleted our dollar reserve. Nigeria owed airlines about $575 million in air fares as of March 31, according to the International Air Transport Association.
United is not the first airline to end it's route to Nigeria. British Airways had also allegedly threatened to stop flying to Nigeria if something is not done about their money being stuck here.
Delta Airlines will now be the only major U.S. carrier flying to Africa.
United Airlines closing shop here means a lot of Nigerians will lose their jobs. Quite sad!
lalasticlala seun

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Source: http://www.timenaija.com/united-airlines-to-end-their-flights-to.xhtml

hmmm!
This isn't happening
Very soon, no airline in Nigeria again

this is another negative effect of change.

In the voice of zombies. No problem, we will be better without them.

You people should stop writing about what you have no idea about. If they are leaving, it's not because of the downtown in Economy...
The load factor has reduced that's the primary reason.

Delta is more or less gone from 9ja too as they only sale tickets if you are paying in USD. I foresee them closing shop soon.

Too bad. Some foools online are chanting " Sai baba, things are getting better yada yada" while the reality is that businesses ( local and international) are folding up. Very very tough days ahea

Boeing777pilot:
You people should stop writing about what you have no idea about. If they are leaving, it's not because of the downtown in Economy...
The load factor has reduced that's the primary reason.

And what reduced the load factor, mr pilot?? I am disappointed that this is coming from a self acclaimed pilot....Smh

SnakeDoctor2020:
And what reduced the load factor, mr pilot?? I am disappointed that this is coming from a self acclaimed pilot....Smh

What they simply do is look for cheaper alternatives which they have done hence United is feeling the pinch. For instance medview flights to London gat wick are always fully booked because it's a cheaper alternative to the expensive BA and Co.

Arik used to fly to dubai but stopped because they couldn't compete with Emirates and Etihad.

I know the economy might not be in the best of shape but let's stop these knee jerk reactions and stop blaming Buhari without critically analyzing the facts of the matter.

Have a nice day.

Boeing777pilot:


What they simply do is look for cheaper alternatives which they have done hence United is feeling the pinch. For instance medview flights to London gat wick are always fully booked because it's a cheaper alternative to the expensive BA and Co.

Arik used to fly to dubai but stopped because they couldn't compete with Emirates and Etihad.

I know the economy might not be in the best of shape but let's stop these knee jerk reactions and stop blaming Buhari without critically analyzing the facts of the matter.

Have a nice day.

You didn't answer the question actually. What caused the reduced load factor? Houston is lagos in US, one of the 3 most popular US destination for Nigerians, what changed this year?
Btw what's the cheaper alternative for flying to houston from lag? Is there? Lagos JFK by the Arik you've being singing about since is about 320,000 ngn, Jfk to IAH with jetblue, AA or DElta goes for about $400, return trip,how is that cheaper for a traveler to Houston as opposed to the 350,000 ngn to 380,000 that united offered. Not to mention the stress with flight changes et all.

Also, the inability of airlines to cash out their money because of forex is another cause of their pulling out.

Delta ain't selling unless you are paying usd. Soon, they'll leave.

We need to stop glossing over it ; businesses are folding up, local and multinational companies all because of unfavorable business environment and stuuuupid economic policies.

WOW, This is a wonderful news,