Air Senegal launches scheduled flights to Milan and Lyon on 17 February 2021 and 28 March 2021 respectively

Report by : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA

Air Senegal  launches scheduled flights from Dakar to Milan and Lyon in February and March 2021 respectively.

Air Senegal plans to launch its inaugural flight from Dakar to Milan on 17 February 2021 with its A321 jet while it beings its Dakar - Lyon scheduled service via Marseille on 28 March 2021 with its 165-seat A321. It returns non-stop to Dakar from Lyon.

The 4,020-kilometre Dakar - Lyon service flight has 16 lie-flat beds in Business Class and 149 Economy Class seats.

When Marseille was launched in December 2019, Air Senegal operated triangularly via Barcelona using A330-900s. It also flies to Paris CDG.

Future European destinations of Air Senegal include London Stansted and Geneva. 

Due to the pandemic, Air Senegal’s African network has presumably temporarily reduced in size.  The cities of Abuja, Accra, Bissau, Lagos, Niamey, and Ouagadougou are not currently served. Active destinations of Air Senegal include Abidjan, Bamako, Conakry, Banjul, Nouakchott, and Ziggachoir. 

Air Senegal was created in 2016 to replace bankrupt carrier Senegal Airlines, which was under liquidation. The new national airline is part of a large, 20-year horizon investment plan referred to as Plan Sénégal Émergent (PSE) initiated by President Macky Sall. Air Senegal  is headed by Philippe Bohn, a former vice president of Airbus. The carrier is advised by the financial advisory conglomerate Lazard.

On 29 April 2018, the airline received its Air Operator's Certificate (AOC),^[6] and commenced domestic flights on 14 May 2018 with a fleet of two brand new ATR72-600s. In the fourth quarter of 2018, it leased two Airbus A319s from Lessors Avolon and Apollo and started deploying to several regional destinations. The airline added a third A319 jet in June 2019 to serve regional destinations, including Abidjan, Cotonou and Conakry.^[7]

The airline ordered two long-haul wide-body Airbus A330-900neos in November 2017 at the Dubai Air Show.^[8] It became the first African acquirer of this new type of aircraft. The first plane arrived in January 2019 after a delivery flight from Toulouse and launched the daily Dakar–Paris route.