United States carrier to suspend Nigeria-Houston route

onnaedo

May 27, 2016 7:48 PM

Although the airline hasn't released a formal statement to this effect, United Airlines confirmed the development via it's Twitter page in response to an inquiry by a Nigerian.

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United States carrier, United Airlines will from June 30th discontinue its Lagos - Houston route.

According to reports, the airline's last flights to Nigeria will depart on June 29 from Houston and June 30 from Lagos.

The airline cited a lack of demand as the reason behind the suspension of the route.

According to Punch, United Airlines said in a note to employees that the daily route from Houston to Lagos had underachieved for years but was kept alive because of its importance to Texas-based customers.

Central Bank of Nigeria's restriction on the movement of currency also played a role in this as the International Air Transport Association said that funds belonging to foreign airlines, which had been trapped in the country due to the Federal Government’s policy on foreign exchange, stood at $575m (N113.28bn) as of March this year.

This move comes barely six weeks after Spain’s national carrier, Iberia Plc, stopped flights to Nigeria, citing dwindling passenger traffic as the reason.

Delta Air will now be the only major US carrier flying to Africa.

onnaedo