CHICAGO, ILLINOIS — United Airlines announced today it had filed an application with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) for three weekly nonstop flights between Washington, D.C., and Cape Town, South Africa.
If approved, United's flights will become the first nonstop service ever between Washington D.C. and South Africa's legislative capital, Cape Town.
United's proposed service would begin Nov. 17, 2022, and operate with the airlines' 787-9 Dreamliners. The flights between Dulles and Cape Town will connect 55 cities across the United States to Cape Town, representing more than 90 percent of the entire U.S. travel demand to Cape Town. United's Washington Dulles hub is a gateway to the nation's capital and elsewhere, operating more than 230 daily flights to nearly 100 destinations around the world – including more than ten world capitals and new services to Accra, Ghana, and Lagos, Nigeria.
The service will also supplement United's existing flights to four cities in three countries in Africa. It will also allow customers to connect in Cape Town to other points in South Africa and to other countries in the southern region of the African continent with its South African-based partner Airlink and their Cape Town hub.
The Washington D.C. to Cape Town route is the largest between the U.S. and South Africa without nonstop service. D.C. is the second largest point in the U.S. for Cape Town demand and holds the fifth-largest South-African-born population. United's proposed weekly flights will address this gap and complement United's existing South Africa service between New York/Newark and Cape Town and Johannesburg, providing nearly daily service to Cape Town offered by a single carrier.
