As travel becomes somewhat normal despite a pandemic, United Airlines is looking to establish a flight route from Washington DC to Cape Town come November.
The American airline has applied for direct flights between the two cities which follows its recent decision to increase flights from New York, as per Business Insider.
As COVID-19 travel restrictions continue to ease, numerous air carriers in the United States have had their eye on the Mother City with the US becoming one of South Africa’s biggest source markets for tourists in 2021, overtaking the United Kingdom.
However, United Airlines is not the only company focusing on creating major African routes as Delta Air Lines has recently applied for nonstop flights to Cape Town after a previous attempt to create a triangular route that would include the Mother City was controversially denied by South Africa’s department of transport.
While Delta Air Lines waits to hear back on whether its direct flights to Cape Town have been approved, United Airlines has submitted its application with the US department of transportation.
The application was submitted on Friday, 04 March 2022, and describes the Airline’s plans for three-times-weekly, year-round “scheduled foreign air transportation of persons, property, and mail between the US and Cape Town, South Africa via Washington DC,” as Simple Flying reports.
The airline notes that the increased service between the two cities is within the public’s interest.
“In addition to seamlessly connecting key business and government hubs between the US and South Africa and enhancing consumer options and convenience, the allocation of these frequencies to United will enhance competition against Delta, which has been the incumbent US carrier to continental Africa for almost two decades,” it stated in its application.
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