United Airlines has announced new direct flights between Washington Dulles Airport and Cape Town, becoming the first airline to provide nonstop roundtrip service from the US capital to South Africa. The U.S. Department of Transportation granted the airline three weekly direct flights, which will commence on November 17, 2022 (subject to approval by the South Africa Government).
"We are thrilled to further expand our Africa offering with this first-ever direct link between Washington DC and Cape Town," said Patrick Quayle, United's Senior Vice President of Global Network Planning and Alliances. "These new flights build upon our existing year-round New York/Newark to Cape Town service – together they'll provide a near-daily pattern from the U.S. to Cape Town along with connectivity to the broader region through our Airlink partnership."
United will soon offer a total of 19 weekly flights to Africa - in addition to these new flights to Cape Town, the airline launched nonstop flights from New York/Newark to Johannesburg and Washington D.C. to Accra, Ghana and Lagos, Nigeria in 2021.
United will fly a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft on this new route, which features 48 lie-flat, United Polaris business class seats, 21 United Premium Plus seats and 188 economy seats.