United Airlines confirmed this week that it plans to stop flights to Blaise Diagne International Airport (DSS) in Dakar, Senegal, and Stockholm Arlanda Airport (ARN) in Sweden.
The Chicago-based airline will end flights between Washington, D.C. Dulles International Airport (IAD) and DSS on March 5, 2026. The airline’s seasonal flights to and from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) have ended in 2025 but will not resume for the 2026 summer travel season as originally planned.
A United spokesperson said in a series of statements that passengers who had booked tickets could request a refund or contact United to change to another airline.
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United Airlines began flying three times a week to Washington, DC and Dakar at the end of May this year, using 203-seat Boeing 767-300ER aircraft. At the time, the route caused quite a stir as it seemed to have huge potential for travel needs of government and business employees as well as those visiting family and friends.
However, data filed with the Department of Transportation and retrieved through Cirium shows that the flight’s average load factor only hovers around 65-70%, suggesting that United may be able to more efficiently use aircraft on this route to fly to places where demand is stronger.
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Delta Air Lines also flies to DSS via New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) on a Boeing 767-300ER. Data show that before United launched competing routes last summer, its passenger load factor was 75-85%, and last summer it was 80-90%.
It’s common for airlines to abandon new routes soon after launching them if demand ends up being lower than expected, or if the demand cannot be met.
Meanwhile, United’s flights between EWR and ARN were first launched in 2005 under Continental Airlines, which subsequently merged with United in 2012. While the nonstop route has since been a mainstay of United’s summer schedule, it faces stiff competition from other airlines using European hubs. Delta Air Lines also offers flights to Stockholm from JFK, and Scandinavian Airlines (also known as SAS) operates year-round flights between EWR and ARN. SAS recently left the Star Alliance network to join SkyTeam after emerging from bankruptcy proceedings.
United has been aggressively adding new and less common destinations, and while that typically gives them time to grow, it hasn’t been shy about cutting underperforming routes in order to invest in new markets.
The airline recently announced new destinations for summer 2026, including Split, Croatia; Bari, Italy; Glasgow, Scotland and Santiago de Compostela, Spain. With the exception of Dakar, all of the airline’s expanded routes for 2025 will continue to operate, including seasonal summer flights to Bilbao, Spain; Faro, Portugal; Nuuk, Greenland and Palermo, Italy.
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