United Celebrates Five Years Flying to Cape Town

‍DALLAS — United Airlines (UA) is celebrating its fifth anniversary of nonstop flights between Cape Town and its New York hub.   

The Chicago-based (CHI) carrier has operated scheduled flights to Cape Town International Airport (CPT) from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) for five years. These flights are offered year-round and are operated with a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner featuring 257 seats: 48 all-aisle-access flatbed seats in United Polaris business class, 21 United Premium Plus, and 188 in economy, including 39 Economy Plus seats.

United was, in fact, the first U.S. carrier to operate flights between CPT and North America. Since 2019, it has carried over 345,000 customers and 2,000 tons of cargo on over 1,500 flights between CPT and its EWR and Washington (IAD) hubs.

“We are proud to mark the fifth anniversary of our Cape Town to New York Newark service,” said Amit Badiani, Head of Africa and Offline Sales, United Airlines. 

CPT has grown into a globally popular tourist destination, with increasing visitor numbers from North America. Passenger numbers have grown since the route's launch, allowing UA to expand frequencies to the African city. UA initially launched this route in December 2019 as a summer seasonal service but expanded it to a year-round service in 2021. 

“As the first U.S. airline to operate direct flights to Cape Town, United Airlines has catalyzed tourism and trade between the Western Cape and North America,” said Wrenelle Stander, CEO of Wesgro, the provincial agency for tourism, trade, and investment promotion that powers the Cape Town Air Access catalytic project. 

United Focuses On Africa

United sees value in Africa and intends to expand its presence on the continent. It expanded its South Africa route network by introducing year-round flights from Johannesburg (JNB) to EWR in 2021 and expanded flights between CPT and IAD to year-round services in 2022.

In addition to its three weekly nonstop flights from CPT to EWR, United operates three weekly nonstop flights from CPT to IAD and daily nonstop flights from JNB to EWR. Flights are conveniently timed to connect at United’s hubs with an extensive network of services to destinations throughout the Americas. 

In addition to CPT and JNB, United flies to Accra (ACC) in Ghana and Lagos (LOS) in Nigeria. UA recently added Marrakesh (RAK) in Morocco to its network of African destinations. From May 2025, UA will also operate services to Dakar (DKR) in Senegal.