United Airlines is planning to launch a nonstop route between Washington and Cape Town, which will compete with the carrier's Newark to Cape Town service. It might not be easy to get approval for this.

United’s Washington to Cape Town route plans

The DOT has been asked to allow United to operate 3x weekly flights between Washington and Cape Town. The route would start on November 17, 2022.

Washington to Cape Town is departing at 6:30PM.

The flight from Cape Town to Washington leaves at 9:00PM.

The Boeing 787-9 will be used for the route and has 257 seats. There are 48 Polaris seats, 21 Premium Plus seats, 39 Economy Plus seats, and 149 economy class seats.

This would be United's fifth route to Africa, and it would complement the carrier's routes from Newark to Cape Town, Newark to Johannesburg, Washington to Accra, and Washington to Lagos.

United wants to launch a second route to Cape Town

Why this route might not become a reality

A couple of weeks ago, Delta Air Lines announced plans to launch a new 3x weekly service between Atlanta and Cape Town as of November 18, 2022. It's not a coincidence that United is interested in adding another Cape Town route as well, and that the airline is even promising to launch a day earlier than United.

Due to the limited frequencies between the United States and South Africa, carriers from the United States are only able to add up to four additional frequencies. Delta and United can't get what they want here. The DOT could either split the slots between the two airlines or award them to Delta.

The frequencies over Delta should be given to United for a number of reasons.

  • Washington is the second largest destination in the United States for Cape Town demand (after New York), and this would also facilitate government-to-government connections
  • This would enhance competition against Delta, which has been the largest US carrier providing service to continental Africa for well over a decade
  • United would offer connectivity to 15 other destinations beyond Cape Town via partner Airlink
  • Between the Newark and Washington routes, United would provide nonstop or one-stop service for 93% of demand from the United States to South Africa
There’s some competition for these Cape Town slot allocations

Bottom line

As of November 2022, United Airlines hopes to launch 3x weekly flights between Washington and Cape Town. Just a couple of weeks ago Delta announced plans to launch an Atlanta to Cape Town route.

There are only four additional weekly frequencies between the United States and South Africa that can be allocated to an airline from the United States.

Do you think Delta or United should be given the frequencies in Cape Town?

The tip of the hat to IshrionA.

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