Delta Air Lines has announced its intentions to launch a 3x weekly service from its hub at New York-JFK to Lagos, Nigeria (LOS) starting March 24th, 2018.
The flight will be operated by the airline’s Airbus a330-200 aircraft, which features a total of 234 seats spread across 3 classes of service. The plane will top out at business class (Delta One) with a total of 34 flat bed seats, then 32 Delta Comfort + seats, and lastly 168 standard economy seats.
Why Lagos?
Well according the United Nations, the city proper has roughly 13.6 million inhabitants, making it the 2nd largest on the continent behind Cairo, and largest in Sub- Saharan Africa.
Thats a ton of people. More so than the following global cities:
- Manilla, Philipines (13.1 million)
- Guangzhou, China (13 million)
- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (12.9 million)
- Los Angeles, USA (12.3 million)
- Moscow, Russia (12.2 million)
- Paris, France (10.9 million)
- London (10.4 million)
I think this is a very smart move on Delta’s part as they will be the sole carrier flying between the two mega-cities. In addition, 3x weekly is just enough for the airline to get its feet wet and get a taste for what the aircraft loads will look like over time.
I believe this will route will be able to chip away at even the most loyal Oneworld and Star Alliance U.S. frequent flyers. A domestic connection to JFK and then a non-stop to Lagos sounds much easier than flying transatlantic to London or Frankfurt and then on to Lagos with either Oneworld or Star Alliance, respectively.
In addition, Nigeria is home to one of West Africa’s most lucrative crude oil markets. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, in February 2017, Nigeria produced close to 1.9 million barrels of oil per day (1,869,000). This is more than the following countries:
- Norway (1,710,000 barrels per day)
- Angola (1,688,000 barrels per day)
- Qatar (1,467,000 barrels per day)
- Algeria (1,340,000 barrels per day)
- and just behind Mexico (2,050,000 barrels per day)
This announcement has even larger implications for the African continent. As a result of Delta’s route addition, there will now be a total of 10 links between the U.S. and Sub-Saharan Africa.
From New York (JFK):
- Johannesburg, South Africa (South African Airways)
- Accra, Ghana (Delta)
- Dakar, Senegal (Delta)
- Lagos, Nigeria (Delta- Announced)
From Newark (EWR):
- Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (Ethiopian Airlines via Lome)
From Washington D.C. (IAD):
- Johannesburg, South Africa (South African Airways via Accra and Dakar)
- Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (Ethiopian Airlines)
From Atlanta (ATL):
- Johannesburg, South Africa (Delta)
- Lagos, Nigeria (Delta)
From Los Angeles:
- Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (Ethiopian Airlines via Dublin)
To the Point!
Its great to see Africa get some “love” from the big 3 U.S. carriers. Once this flight commences, Delta will have a total of 5 routes between the two continents, putting them leaps and bounds ahead of UA and AA, who have a whopping 0 combined (In 2016 UA canceled its only route to Africa that connected Houston and Lagos).
Strategically, I think this makes sense for Delta, as they now have a stranglehold on non-stop U.S. business travel to Lagos through their hubs in ATL and JFK. From a business travelers perspective, I think this route is much more appealing than flying transatlantic to AMS, LHR, or FRA, and then continuing down to Nigeria.
Plus, Delta One isn’t looking too shabby these days…
Does anyone have plans to fly Delta to Africa? If you have, how was your experience?
Route Guide 