Continental plans to launch its first Africa service — a daily nonstop between Houston and Lagos, Nigeria — on Nov. 10, 2011.
The airline will operate the flight with a Boeing 787 Dreamliner seating 36 passengers in business and 192 in economy.
The route connects two cities where oil, petroleum and natural gas fuel the local economies. Continental CEO Jeff Smisek said the flight "will link two energy capitals and fill the growing demand for nonstop service between the two cities."
The Houston-Lagos route is Continental’s second in which the airline announced it will use the Dreamliner, a composite aircraft that is expected to be Boeing's most fuel-efficient plane.
In late May, Continental revealed plans to launch Dreamliner service between Houston and New Zealand on Nov. 16, 2011.
Continental said the success of both Dreamliner routes will be "enhanced" by the airline’s pending merger with United because of an expected increase in Houston traffic.
