United Pulls Back In West Africa, Scandinavia

United Airlines plans to exit two long-haul markets next year, confirming it will suspend service to both Senegal and Sweden.

The Star Alliance member will end its 3X-weekly Washington Dulles-Dakar service on March 5, 2026, and will not resume its Newark-Stockholm Arlanda route for the 2026 summer season. The moves eliminate United’s only services to both Senegal and Scandinavia.

“We regularly make changes to our schedule due to aircraft availability, market dynamics and other factors,” the carrier said in a statement regarding both route suspensions. For impacted passengers, the carrier added that customers “may reach out to United to be reaccommodated on a partner airline or to request a refund.”

United launched the 3,476-mi. (3,021-nm) Washington Dulles-Dakar route in May 2025, becoming the second U.S. carrier in the West African market alongside Delta Air Lines’ New York JFK-Dakar service. It currently deploys Boeing 767-300 aircraft on the sector, operating year-round.

The suspension means Delta will become the only North American airline flying nonstop to Senegal—although Air Transat plans to enter the market in June 2026 with a Montreal-Dakar service using Airbus A321LRs. Historically, Dakar has seen intermittent long-haul connectivity: Air Senegal operated New York JFK-Dakar from 2021 to 2024, while South African Airways linked Johannesburg-Dakar-Washington before the pandemic.

Sabre Market Intelligence data shows U.S.-Senegal O&D traffic totaled 124,285 passengers in 2024, with only 31% flying nonstop. New York-Dakar accounted for about 53,800 passengers, followed by Washington-Dakar with nearly 13,600.

United’s withdrawal leaves Washington without direct service to Senegal, although the carrier will continue serving four African destinations in summer 2026: Cape Town from Washington and Newark, Accra from Washington, Johannesburg from Newark, and Lagos from Washington.

Meanwhile, United’s Newark-Stockholm route, operated with 757-200s, has previously been a summer-season service and the airline’s only link to Scandinavia. After resuming in 2023 following a pandemic pause, the route ran in the 2023, 2024 and 2025 summer seasons.

Despite this, United has gradually reduced its presence, providing 43,264 two-way seats in summer 2019, compared with 30,976 in summer 2025, OAG Schedules Analyser data shows.

The latest suspension comes just over a year after former Star Alliance partner Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) completed its move to SkyTeam under a restructuring led by Air France-KLM. The realignment removed a longstanding relationship between SAS and United at Stockholm Arlanda. However, SAS continues to serve the Newark-Stockholm market year-round, while Delta provides U.S. service to Sweden’s capital with 767-300ER flights from New York JFK.

“It is, of course, very unfortunate that United has chosen to discontinue their seasonal route at Stockholm Arlanda,” Swedavia Director of Aviation Business Elizabeth Axtelius told Aviation Week. “Even though United only flew a short season—with a 757—they contributed to the accessibility to/from the U.S., which is a large and important market for us.

“We understand that the competition for traffic between Europe and North America has been very challenging, especially in the economy segment. However, we have not seen any direct downturn in demand, and this summer we welcomed more Americans to Sweden and Stockholm.

“Furthermore, we have significantly higher demand to North America compared to the current capacity in the market. We hope United will soon be back on the Swedish market again.”

Despite the planned cutbacks, United has already confirmed several new transatlantic additions for summer 2026. Newark-Split service will begin April 30, operating 3X-weekly with 767-300ERs. The carrier will also deploy its high-premium 767-300ERs on a new 4X-weekly Newark-Bari route launching May 1.

Additionally, United plans to use 737-8s for new service from Newark to Glasgow and Santiago de Compostela. The Glasgow flights begin May 8 and will operate daily on a seasonal basis, while Santiago de Compostela launches May 27 with three flights per week.

United is also launching flights next summer from its hub at Washington Dulles to Reykjavik, building on existing service to Iceland’s capital from Newark and Chicago O’Hare. The daily flight on the new route operated by 757-200s starts May 21.