United Airlines Inc. commonly referred to as United, have decided to shut down their over 5 year operations in Nigeria and by extension, Africa, come end of June 2016. This decision came as a result of poor financial performance being recorded over the years, weakness in the energy sector and difficulty in collecting money from tickets sold in the country due to Nigeria's move to restrict currency movements out of the country.
United which is the world's 2nd largest airline, when measured by number of destination served, flies its Boeing 787 dreamliner across the Houston to Lagos route. But with this development it will shift focus to its San Francisco to Tel Aviv route where it can capture more profitable demand. This move means that Delta will be the only US carrier to fly directly to Africa from USA.
United's last flight to Nigeria will be on June 29 while the last return flight will be on June 30. However, customers can still travel to Lagos through their Trans-Atlantic business partner, Deutsche Lufthansa AG via a connection in Frankfurt.
The carrier commenced its first operation in Africa with flights to Ghana on June 20, 2010 and extended operations to Nigeria on December 12 of the same year. Its operations in Ghana has long been terminated in 2012.
With the departure of United, as well as, other foreign companies, it can only spell more trouble for Nigeria as this will negatively impact GDP, increase the unemployment level and discourage foreign investment. Without a drastic improvement in oil revenue, having more alternatives for exports and limiting imports, the situation is best left for the imagination.
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