Senegal’s Tourism Faces Challenges as United Airlines Ends Direct Washington-Dakar Service

Published on November 24, 2025

United Airlines has announced they will no longer provide services from Washington Dulles to Dakar starting in March 2026, which will impact the travel and tourism industries. The services began in May 2025 and operated on a Boeing 767-300 three times a week. The last flight will be on March 4, 2026. After this, Delta Airlines will be the only North American airline with direct services to Dakar, Senegal.

United’s exit illustrates the complexities new airlines encounter when entering the West African market with services. Senegal, leading the tourism market in Africa, will also be impacted. Furthermore, this shows the ever-evolving African flight market with the USA, especially on secondary and harder to fill routes.

The Growth and Challenges of Senegal’s Connectivity in the Tourism Industry

One of the African countries gaining popularity in the tourism sector is Senegal. Taking the lead in becoming popular is the country and its capital city, Dakar, due to its rapidly developing tourism, Skip and Go Dakar for its Gorée Island, African Renaissance Monument, and pink Lake. Dakar is also home to cultural and historical monuments and is therefore popular among cultural tourists.

Nonetheless, due to a number of reasons, Senegal continues to face challenges in long-haul connectivity. Senegal’s national airline, Air Senegal, offered a direct, long-haul flight from New York’s JFK to Dakar, but due to operational reasons had to cancel the route, which had only recently started. As for South African Airways, which also offered a long-haul flight, opened the triangle route of Johannesburg, Dakar and Washington. However, once COVID-19 was in full swing, the route was also abandoned.

The above circumstances have led to Senegal remaining a crucial part of the tourism situation in the West African region, but with the absence of operational and commercially viable direct flights to North America, the country will remain with the same challenges.

Future of Tourism in Senegal

Tourism in Senegal could be affected by United Airlines’ no longer operating flights to Dakar. With Delta Airlines being the only other carrier on the JFK to Dakar route, there’s no telling if other American or foreign airlines will fill the void. While the tourism economy in Dakar should still be fine in the short term, there could be long term problems without other American airlines on the flights to Dakar.

D.C. is a major business and government travel hub, and the lack of direct flights from D.C. will make travel more difficult. This will be a larger issue for tourists, especially if the tourists are from the diaspora, and are typically more interested in traveling to Senegal. Increased travel costs and a lack of convenience will only further deter American tourists.

Though there are still lots of flights from Western Europe, there are a lack of direct flights to Dakar from Western Europe. This is especially a problem for tourism in Dakar because a lack of direct flights discourages travel. There is still a chance to develop new tourism products for tourists, even if there are no new direct flights, or improve the current products. New partnerships with airlines could help improve tourism in Dakar as well.

A Competitive Landscape for U.S.-Africa Routes

The withdrawal from the Washington-Dakar route is a part of a wider pattern regarding the changes in the U.S.-Africa air travel market. There are several airlines that are reassessing their international networks to incorporate more profitable routes. Given the situation, it is understandable why major airlines are avoiding secondary markets. Such markets have a smaller passenger base, making flights unsustainable in the long run, leading to operational difficulties for the airlines.  

Market insight from Sabre shows that the travel flow from the U.S. to Senegal is around 124,285 passengers in 2024. However, only 31% of those passengers embarked on direct flights. Most of those people are taking indirect flights to Senegal via European or African hubs like Paris Charles de Gaulle or Istanbul Airport.  

The Washington-Dakar route accounted for around 13,600 passengers in 2024, which is insufficient for United to continue its service on that route. In contrast to the Washington-Dakar route, United is likely to continue offering flights to other countries in Africa which have a higher volume for business travel, like Lagos or Accra.

New Alternatives For North American Travellers

Despite United’s exit, there are still other North American gateways other than united. Delta is the only other United States carrier with a non-stop flight from JFK to Dakar, so they will continue to be the only direct option. Additionally, a Canadian airline, Air Transat, is scheduled to start selling tickets from Montreal to Dakar from June 20226 with flights on the Airbus A321LR. This can serve to increase travel demand from the Canadian Francophonie, as they will potentially seek travel to Dakar and Senegal.  

Even with United now leaving the route, Senegal will likely still focus efforts to increase demand for additional carriers in the European and African travel gateways. This is likely to include both governments working on airport and runway improvements, along with offering subsidy incentives for airlines that would open other destinations.  

Senegal’s Future Strategy for Tourism  

The most direct result for Senegal’s tourism will now be a rethink on how to diversify the country’s products and offerings to attract international travelers. There will need to focus on creating multiple products to capture both leisure and business tourism, as this will likely be the core segment with the most potential. Improving the tourism infrastructure will also lead to greater potential for attracting international travelers, even with reduced direct flight access, along with a still significant work demand for assisting in creating better road access to the country’s key tourism areas.

Also important are collaborations with airlines for better-connected flights along with advertising in prime international markets. Senegal’s tourism industry has to keep adopting the country’s culture and nature to be less impacted by global competition.

Conclusion

Although United’s Washington – Dakar route was removed, making it less easy to travel directly between North America and Senegal, it does show the potential for sophisticated route planning for the future. Senegal can use this time to upgrade tourism offerings and to better Integrated tourism with international markets, so that even with global competition, Senegal can maintain a healthy amount of new visitors.