United Nigeria Airlines (UN, Enugu) plans to list on the Nigerian Stock Exchange and launch direct flights to New York as part of an ambitious expansion that would see it begin intercontinental operations by summer 2026, according to its chairman, Obiora Okonkwo.
Speaking at the airline’s fifth anniversary news conference in Lagos on February 12, Okonkwo said that United Nigeria Airlines plans to list on the NGX within the next three to five years as part of its medium-term growth strategy, The Cable news site reported.
"It is our midterm plan. Trust us, within the next three years, five years, we will be on the stock exchange," he said, adding that the company must be fully prepared before going public.
The move is being driven by the high cost of bank loans, he explained, with interest rates ranging from 30% to 35%. Raising equity through the stock market would significantly reduce the cost of capital.
Although the airline is open to equity financing, it is first putting proper structures in place, including meeting regulatory, corporate governance, and financial requirements, to ensure it is ready to attract and satisfy external investors.
Announcing the airline's operational roadmap for the next five years, Okonkwo said plans are at an advanced stage to commence intercontinental flights to the Gulf, Europe, and the United States by the summer of 2026. Destinations include Dubai International, Jeddah International, Rome, New York, and the United Kingdom.
"By the end of the second quarter of 2026, United Nigeria Airlines will fly direct to New York," he stated.
He said the airline also plans to launch six regional routes before the second quarter of 2026. These would include (but not be limited to) Dakar Blaise Diagne International, Monrovia Roberts, and Johannesburg O.R. Tambo, he confirmed.
To support the expansion, the airline has bought six B737-800 NGs from Southwest Airlines and is finalising negotiations for three more of the same type, "all scheduled to be delivered before the end of second quarter, starting from March 2026, when we take delivery of the first two aircraft," he disclosed.
He confirmed that United Nigeria Airlines has also wet-leased two A330-200s from Air Anka, "to be delivered between July and October 2026, with first delivery on July 26," he said.
The carrier, which began operations on February 12, 2021, with a single route from Lagos to Enugu, now has five in-house aircraft: four E145s (three inactive) and one B737-500 (inactive), according to ch-aviation fleets data. It also wet-leases seven aircraft, including four A320-200 from Fly2Sky, one CRJ900ER and one CRJ900LR from CemAir, and one E190 from Windrose Airlines.
Okonkwo said the airline had migrated to an approved maintenance organisation (AMO) structure as a precursor to establishing its own maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facility within three years.
