A post-Covid boom in international travel has put Dulles International Airport atop a ranking for service to Africa.
The local airport, which sits on the border of Loudoun and Fairfax counties, has now surpassed John F. Kennedy International in New York for the most nonstop destinations to the continent, with eight cities to JFK’s six.
“More opportunities exist,” Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer Chryssa Westerlund said at the MWAA board’s latest meeting on July 16.
Westerlund said business development staff with the authority are working with carriers to develop new opportunities in Africa.
Currently, the following carriers have nonstop service from the airport:
- United Airlines: Flights to Accra, Ghana; Cape Town, South Africa; Lagos, Nigeria; and Dakar, Senegal
- Ethiopian Airlines: Flights to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Lomé, Togo
- EgyptAir: Flights to Cairo, Egypt
- Royal Air Maroc: Flights to Casablanca, Morocco
At JFK, EgyptAir provides service to Cairo, Royal Air Maroc to Casablanca and Ethiopian to Addis Ababa. In addition, Kenya Airways flies to Nairobi and Delta Air Lines offers flights to Accra and Dakar.
The most recent service from Dulles to Africa began in late May, when United launched three-times-a-week service to Dakar on a year-round basis.
Flights depart Dulles on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays, arriving in Senegal the following day. Flights depart Dakar on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, arriving in Northern Virginia the same day.
The service is operated with Boeing 767-300 aircraft, featuring 30 Polaris business seats, 24 United Premium Plus seats and 149 economy seats.
In July, there were nearly 500,000 available aircraft seats between Africa and the Americas, according to OAG Aviation Worldwide.
Though up 6% year-over-year, that figure represents only about 2.5% of the 19.4 million seats available between Africa and all non-African destinations, according to the data.
Growth in travel between Dulles and Africa mirrors other post-Covid gains. In May, Dulles saw its highest enplanement for that month in the airport’s 63-year history, Westerlund said.
At the same meeting, the MWAA Board of Directors approved a master plan for Dulles that calls for major facility expansions and projects that the airport will reach 90 million passengers annually before the end of this century.
