I Dream Of Africa

Despite the thousands of miles that seem to separate our various land masses, I've always held firm to the idea that our planet is a small world with a lot to see. My dream would be to one day see a world where you could drop in to your local airport, and catch a flight to anywhere your heart desired with little hassle. The realities of the travel industry will never allow that day to arrive though, which isn't neccasarily bad. The negative impact of so many flights on our environment is already controversial. Additionally, it just isn't financially feasible to connect every notable point of interest in the world. Sure, it would be great if I could run down to O'Hare from my condo and catch a flight to Madagascar, but no airline is going to make money on that route.

All this is why I always find the initiation of new routes on an airline to be such an exciting and interesting thing. I'm eternally fascinated with the ways that people can connect to each other, and being able to jump on a plane for a few hours and get off in a completely different culture is certainly a way to connect to someone else.

This Sunday at 10:20 PM Eastern, United Airlines is passing a historic milestone in its history by initiating service to Africa. The airline will be flying a Boeing 767 from Washington Dulles (IAD) to Accra, Ghana (ACC). According to United's press release, Ghana's ambassador to the United State will be taking the inaugural flight. Additionally, American Idol contestant Elliott Yamin will be on the flight, though I'm completely mystified as to why this was considered noteworthy enough to include in the official press release.....

To mark the occasion, United has partnered with non-profit Malaria No More and ExxonMobile to distribute more then 1000 mosquito nets to families in rural Ghana. Sonya Jackson, president of the United Airlines Foundation (the charity arm of United Airlines) said, "Along with the economic value our new service provides to Ghana, we have responsibility and commitment to do our part to address a critical need in the region." This is an interesting and noble sounding clip, but my personal suspicion is that everyday Ghanaians probably won't see much economic value from United's new service. At the very least, the mosquite nets are a nice gesture.

When this service was first announced, it was not the only African destination marked by United to receive services. The Nigerian city of Lagos was on deck to receive flights as well. Nigeria's aviation approval process is notoriously slow and shifty, and it currently seems United has dropped its plans to provide service to this violent but important city in the heart of Africa's oil country. There's a possibility that Nigeria's government had no hand in United's decision to not launch service to Lagos though. Continental, which United Airlines is currently in the process of merging with, has recently announced some of the destinations it plans on adding to its route network when it beings flying the Boeing 787. The first location was Auckland, New Zealand, and the 2nd location was.... you guessed it, Lagos, Nigeria. With the merger pending, it would seem that duplicating service to Lagos on the same airline might saturate the market a bit. Even though United initially intended on flying to Lagos from Accra with the same aircraft, Continental's intention to connect Lagos to Houston makes more sense for business travel by connecting two oil industry giants.

I've never been to Ghana (or Africa for that matter), but I have a coworker who has gone and absolutely fell in love with the people and culture. He's already planning a return during the upcoming Christmas holiday season. It looks like he'll have another option to get there now. I'd be looking to go with him if I wasn't trying to concentrate on flying on a certain rival airline alliance.....

What remains to be seen is if the Ghana route can be profitable for United. Only time will tell. For now, we can just enjoy the fact that for some people, like my coworker, our world just got a bit smaller.

Safe Travels,

Leo

Source: United.com