United Airlines will launch its daily Newark-Johannesburg service on June 3, subject to government approval.
Last year, the carrier suspended its seasonal summer Cape Town flights and also postponed the original launch date of its daily flights to Johannesburg from March 2021 to June this year.
South African travellers to the US might find the route convenient. A media release from United said Newark Liberty International Airport, 14 miles from Manhattan, offers the fastest surface transfer journeys to many parts of the city, including the AirTrain service to New York Penn Station in midtown Manhattan, with a journey time of less than 30 minutes.
The carrier plans to use the Boeing787-9 Dreamliner on both routes.
United is also adding two new African routes from Washington Dulles, with services to Accra, Ghana, beginning next month, and Lagos, Nigeria, later this year. Both services will operate three times a week.
Further details will be provided in due course.
United Airlines ceo, Scott Kirby, said during the announcement of the carrier’s first-quarter financial results, that it had returned to positive core cash flow in March and was upbeat on the outlook for the rest of the year.
“The company is focused on returning to positive adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) margins, even if business and long-haul international demand remain as much as 70% below 2019 levels,” he said.
United reported a Q1 2021 nett loss of US$1,4bn (R20bn), with the total operating revenue (US$3,2bn or R46bn), down 66% compared with the same period in 2019.
“The United team has now spent a year facing down the most disruptive crisis our industry has ever faced and, because of their skill and dedication to our customers, we're poised to emerge from this pandemic with a future that is brighter than ever," said Scott.
"We've shifted our focus to the next milestone on the horizon and now see a clear path to profitability. We're encouraged by the strong evidence of pent-up demand for air travel and our continued ability to nimbly match it, which is why we're as confident as ever that we'll hit our goal to exceed 2019 adjusted EBITDA margins in 2023, if not sooner."
