United Airlines To Stop Flights To Nigeria

United States carrier, United Airlines, has revealed that it would stop flying to Nigeria next month, ending the carrier’s only African route because of weakness in the energy sector and difficulty in collecting money from tickets sold in the country.

The daily route from Houston to Lagos had underachieved for years but was kept alive because of its importance to Texas-based customers, United Continental Holdings Inc., said in a note to employees on Wednesday. The last flight will be June 30, after which Delta Air Lines Inc. will be the only major U.S. carrier flying to Africa.

United Airlines’ spokesman, Jonathan Guerin who confirmed the note’s authenticity said, ““Repatriation has been a significant issue, as has been the downturn in the energy sector.”

Due to the depletion in the country’s foreign reserves caused by global plunge in oil prices, the Central Bank of Nigeria’s foreign exchange policy restricted the movement of foreign currencies. However, sufficiently indicating potential stiffening of the airlines’ operation in the country as the route has not been profiting.

The airline has apologized for any inconveniences caused especially to customers with bookings for flight beyond those date as they will also provide refunds.

Passengers can still fly to Nigeria on United’s trans-Atlantic business partner, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, through a connection in Frankfurt. The Boeing Co. 787 serving Lagos will be used on the San Francisco-to-Tel Aviv route, which will expand to daily in October from three times weekly, according to the airline note.