United Airlines confirmed this week that it plans to stop flying to Blaise Diagne International Airport (DSS) in Dakar, Senegal, and Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ARN) in Sweden.
The Chicago-based carrier will end service between Washington, D.C.’s Dulles International Airport (IAD) and DSS on March 5, 2026. The airline’s seasonal service between Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), which already ended for 2025, will not return as originally planned for the 2026 summer travel season.
In a set of statements, a spokesperson for United said that passengers with tickets already booked can either request a refund or reach out to United to be rerouted on a different airline.
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United began flying between D.C. and Dakar three times per week in late May of this year, using a Boeing 767-300ER with 203 seats. At the time, the route generated a fair amount of buzz, as it seemed to have strong potential for travel demand from government and corporate employees, as well as travelers visiting friends and relatives.
However, data filed with the Department of Transportation and retrieved via Cirium show that load factors on the flight only hovered around 65-70% on average, suggesting that United may be able to use the plane from that route more efficiently to fly somewhere with stronger demand.
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Delta also flies to DSS with a Boeing 767-300ER, via New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). Data show a load factor in the area of 75-85% this past summer, and 80-90% last summer before United launched its competing route.
It’s somewhat common for airlines to drop new routes shortly after launching them if demand ends up being lower than expected, or if they cannot drum up the demand they had hoped for.
United’s service between EWR and ARN, meanwhile, first launched under Continental Airlines in 2005, before the airline merged with United in 2012. While the nonstop route has been a mainstay of United’s summer schedule since then, it’s faced stiff competition from other airlines using European hubs. Delta also flies to Stockholm from JFK, and Scandinavian Airlines (also known as SAS) flies between EWR and ARN year-round. SAS recently left the Star Alliance network to join SkyTeam after emerging from bankruptcy proceedings.
United has been aggressive in adding new and less-common destinations, and while it generally gives them time to develop, it has not been shy about cutting underperforming routes in order to invest in new markets.
The carrier recently announced its new destinations for summer 2026, which include Split, Croatia; Bari, Italy; Glasgow, Scotland and Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Other than Dakar, all of the routes from the airline’s 2025 expansion will continue, including summer seasonal service to Bilbao, Spain; Faro, Portugal; Nuuk, Greenland and Palermo, Italy.
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