Continental Airlines, America's sixth leading carrier based in Houston is starting a daily direct flight from New York to Lagos, Nigeria in July, airline officials have confirmed.

The new operation will be a relieve to African travelers who endure sometimes 48 hours wait in Europe on their way to Africa because of lack of direct flight to the Black continent since Ritetime/World Airways folded up more than a year ago.

"Continental is launching the flight to serve the business community traveling to Nigeria -- especially those working in the oil industry and the large Nigerian communities in the United States," said airline spokesman Rahsaan Johnson.

The operation will be once a day and seven flights a week to Nigeria. But the exact date for the take off of the service is yet to be made public. However, the official said in a telephone conversation that the airline will fly between Lagos and Newark Liberty International Airport outside New York beginning in the second quarter of 2005.

Unlike Virgin Nigeria airline, another carrier eager to fly the route, Continental Airlines last December secured the approval of both the US and Nigerian government. Virgin is yet to get the approval of US government to begin non-stop flights between New York and Lagos.

"We're proud to extend our network to Africa and to provide a unique link between Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, and the United States, its second-largest trading partner," Continental's President and Chief Operating Officer Larry Kellner, said last December.

"Our Lagos service will be highly attractive to Nigerian and American trans-Atlantic travelers, particularly executives in energy-related industries. They will be able to fly more quickly and easily between Nigeria and not only New York, but cities throughout North America, via our hub at Newark Liberty International Airport."

This is not the first time a US carrier would venture into the lucrative US and Nigeria route. American Trans Air (ATA) once operated direct air links between the two countries in the early 1990s but stopped after US-severed flight relations with Nigeria following the annulment of Nigeria's presidential election won by late Bashorun M.K.O. Abiola in 1993.

ATA is yet to return despite the return to democratic government in 1999 and clearance by the then Clinton administration that the Nigeria airspace is save to fly.

In 2002, the now defunct Nigeria Airways resumed direct commercial flight between Lagos and New York on a leased aircraft from South African Airways only to stop operations after a short while.

Ritetime /World Airways again operated direct flight from New York, Houston and Dallas for a while before again stopping the operation in 2003 December.

But Continental airlines officials are looking beyond the hitches that caused these carriers to stop operations.

"We believe we will be successful because -- as the largest carrier in Houston, which is the energy and oil capital of the U.S., we will be able to tap into the energy and oil business going to and from the African continent," spokesman Johnson said.

"We will also be able to offer Africans in the United States another option for good service. But if the passenger numbers don't materialize, then we'll have to move the airplanes some place else where we can make money," he added.