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Washington Dulles International Airport is pursuing additional air service to Africa after adding routes to Seoul in April and Taipei in June, with Nairobi emerging as the airport authority’s leading target.
Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority officials reviewed their international-route efforts during a July 15 meeting of the authority’s strategic development committee. The presentation paired the two recently launched Asian routes with figures showing growth in travel between Dulles and African nations.
The expansion follows a record year for international travel at Dulles. The airport handled 10.53 million international passengers in 2025, according to MWAA, with those travelers accounting for more than one-third of its total passenger traffic.
Air Premia opened service between Dulles and Seoul in April. The airline operates the route four days a week using Boeing 787 aircraft that carry 320 passengers.
Paul Bobson, MWAA’s vice president for airline development, told officials that the service had begun strongly in both passenger and cargo traffic, although the supplied figures did not include passenger or freight totals. Bobson said Air Premia’s emphasis on economy and premium-economy seats made it a good fit as a new competitor in the market between Dulles and South Korea.
A second Asian route followed in June, when Taiwan-based EVA Air began flying between Dulles and Taipei four days per week. The carrier uses Boeing 787 aircraft with three classes of service.
MWAA Chief Revenue Officer Chryssa Westerlund said Dulles had competed with Boston Logan International Airport for the route. The authority had signed a memorandum of understanding with Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, EVA Air’s hub, in September 2025. That agreement called for the two airports to cooperate on promotional work.
Officials also described Dulles as a connecting point for EVA Air travelers continuing through Taipei to Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and other destinations in Asia.
In Africa, MWAA reported that passenger traffic between Dulles and African countries has risen 41% since 2022. The authority said airfare revenue associated with that travel increased 88% over the same period. Those figures were presented by MWAA and were not independently corroborated in the supplied material.
Dulles currently offers nonstop flights to seven destinations in Africa: Lomé, Accra, Lagos, Cape Town, Addis Ababa, Cairo and Casablanca. MWAA identified Nairobi, Kenya, as its highest-priority target for another route.
The authority took that pitch directly to the aviation industry in June, when MWAA personnel attended the three-day AriaDev Africa conference in Botswana. Officials said their goal was to increase awareness of Dulles among African airlines and airports.
MWAA was one of the conference’s four platinum sponsors, alongside aircraft manufacturers Airbus, Boeing and Embraer, as it sought to build relationships with potential airline partners.
Bobson said international-route recruitment “requires the development of trusting relationships.” He was recruited in 2022 to lead MWAA’s airline business development work.
That work combines market analysis with direct outreach. MWAA board chair Mark Unchapher praised the development team’s use of data to identify global markets that do not yet have service. Board member Kate Hanley credited the staff’s personal approach with helping to establish relationships with airlines.
“We definitely have a passion for what we do,” Bobson said.
“It’s infectious,” Hanley replied.
With the Seoul and Taipei routes operating and Nairobi at the top of the Africa wish list, Bobson signaled that the authority plans to keep looking for additions to Dulles’ international network.
“There’s plenty more out there for us to bring to Washington,” he said.