By Dickson Omobola

On Wednesday, December 4, 2025, America’s mega carrier, United Airlines, commenced daily flights directly from Nigeria to Washington. In this interview held virtually, United’s Country Sales Manager Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa, Oluwatomi Bola-Sadipe, and Director of Sales, Continental Europe, Middle East, Africa, Israel and India, Mr Thorsten Lettnin, identified factors that informed the decision, strategies put in place to confront potential difficulties and how the carrier is sustaining its presence in Africa. Excerpts:

United has begun making plans for 2025, particularly to sustain its presence in Africa. Can you share some of those plans?

Lettnin: I am excited to say that for 2025, United Airlines will be offering non-stop services to 44 different points in the Atlantic region. That is the largest number in United Airlines history. Again, this is only in the context of providing choice and opportunity to our customers. The 44 destinations we will fly to in 2025 makes us relative to other United States carriers. Talking about the number of destinations served, we are number one. Coming over to Africa, it is just important sometimes to remind ourselves where we are coming from. If we look back to, let us say, 2019, to pre-COVID times, United Airlines was flying to zero destinations on the African continent. It was a white map. You can see how excited we are for our customers that come 2025, we will be flying to six destinations on the African continent.

Africa integral to our business

Bola-Sadipe: Africa is very integral to United as a business, and my joy is in showing that it is not just a saying that I put on the table in engagements with the market or stakeholders. It is actually a reality. That reality keeps getting stronger and stronger as time unfolds. You would agree with me that when we first spoke in August 2024, we did not highlight that Senegal would be coming, and that was because the focus at that point was also letting everyone know that come October 25, we will be adding Marrakech to our routes. United will be the only United States carrier flying into Marrakech from the United States, connecting both parts of the world very seamlessly. In addition to the exciting expansion that we did, one of the largest in our history, Africa also showcased itself on that map as well, and we are very excited to learn that come May 2025, we will be connecting Dakar, Senegal, straight to the United States of America. It will confirm Africa’s importance to United Airlines. Our focus has also been highlighted over time by the expansions that we see.

Winter schedule from Nigeria to Washington

Bola-Sadipe: This is going to be the first expansion from December 4 up until February 14 for daily flights directly to Washington, and highlighting the products and services we have on the route and all of the offers and the strong relationships that United has also established in West Africa in the past years, it cannot be overstated. We brought in one of our best aircraft into the Nigerian market and into the West African market because it is not just a Nigeria sentiment. I do not hold back when I put that on the table because the product is very important. What we have done invariably is that apart from just showcasing the fact that Africa is very important to United Airlines, we have walked the walk and talked the talk. We fly the Nigerian route and the Ghanaian route with the Dreamliner 787-8. It is a top of the line product.

For our services, we have the Polaris, Premium Plus, Economy Plus and the regular Economy Cabin. This is so powerful for me because we are able to service all the sections of travel in the business very seamlessly and with a great product. In addition, we are now offering a multitude of options in and out of the continent with a focus currently on West Africa now, ensuring that daily flights are also put in the market. That is something of note to us as well. The distance between our growth from 2019 to date is nothing short of commendable, if I may say so myself. There have been expansions all over the continent and we are very optimistic that that would be the trajectory at which we would be following going forward.

Ease of doing business

Bola-Sadipe: You would agree with me that Nigeria has one of the largest populations and one of the youngest demographics globally. With those numbers, it is always important that we have the right connections in and out of the country. We have been in the market now for over three years and there are needs to be met. We are very happy that the commitment of having the daily winter schedule for this window will also help us support those customers and passengers of ours that would be flying in and out of the US during this winter period. In addition, I know we do have a lot of Nigerians in diaspora. And the fact that we connect directly to Washington also facilitates ease of business out of the country. The need is right there and we are very happy we are able to meet that and also ensure that we provide multiple options to our passengers. In addition, the actual framework that United Airlines has out of Nigeria is that we fly at night out of Nigeria and then we arrive, of course, very early in the morning in the US, ensuring that anybody who wants to travel for leisure, business, even medical reasons, has the ample opportunity to connect out of DC to other connecting destinations in the US. Definitely, there is a need and we identified that increasing the frequency in winter would also help support that traffic in and out of the market.

Potential challenges

Lettnin: One thing we have clearly learnt, and this is part of our recipe of success, is that if we want to be successful on the African continent, we must come up with our best product. That is exactly what we do. It is important also to know that we have a product consistency at United Airlines. Every day we operate, our customers can expect exactly the best product. There is nothing like, ‘oh, today different aircraft’. That is not it. You get 100 per cent product consistency. The other element that we feel is also part of the formula of success is the Washington hub. It is a preferred timing, but also a connectivity beyond Washington. Whatever the final destination is for our Nigerian customers, Washington is a great hub, and we fly and have great connectivity to 70 destinations beyond Washington. We know the aviation sector is highly competitive. For us it is important to come up with the best product every day of operation. Have the timing that our customers want and provide good end-to-end connectivity.

Market intelligence

Bola-Sadipe: The emphasis has always been on the product. What United has done in essence is to make sure that we put our best foot forward and we did all the market intelligence that we needed to, all the envisaged challenges and obstacles, as you highlighted, have already been mitigated against when it comes to the products, when it comes to the services, when it comes to some of the technology as well, that is going to further aid the support in a competitive market.

It is an open secret that Nigerians are experiencing difficult times due to the economy. Consequently, what has the load factor been like for United?

Bola-Sadipe: I would not be able to give you a specific answer on this, but I can say that the traffic and the passenger load factor has been very good, which also facilitated the need for the expansion to further see how good we will do going forward in this high season for Nigeria. You will also agree with me that, yes, indeed, inflation is very high, the economy has been significantly difficult and we have seen as well a differentiation when it comes to the choice of passengers and our clients. The Dreamliner 787 that we do have running in the market is able to support all sects of business. For the business travellers, they still have the ability to fly in our Polaris. For the family members going on vacation or leisure, the economy cabin as well also offers very competitive pricing for them. As much as there is a difficulty, we ensure that we are offering great and excellent service and ensuring that that is available on ground for people who still want to travel from Nigeria or from West Africa directly into the United States. While I agree with you that inflation resulting from the economy is not the best at this time, I am also highlighting the fact that the products and services that we do have in the market are also available for that traffic still travelling.