Air Senegal leaves Benin, Cameroon and Gabon, closes New York - Baltimore route
Air Senegal has taken a new turn since the arrival of the Director General, Alioune Badara Fall, last July. In contrast to the strong expansion it has experienced in recent years, the new management has opted to optimise the network, focusing on profitable and high value-added routes.
As of 31 October 2022, Air Senegal will no longer serve Cotonou (Benin), Douala (Cameroon) and Libreville (Gabon), at least not during the winter schedule which runs until March 2023. The carrier announced this in a letter sent to the Director General of the National Civil Aviation Agency of Gabon (ANAC-Gabon), Nadine Anato, last Friday, 7 October. "We will not fail to inform you of further changes, and as soon as possible," wrote the director general Alioune Badara Fall.
Currently, the carrier serves all three destinations three times a week in a single flight, using 120-seat Airbus A319-100 aircraft (18 in business class and 102 in economy).
This route opened on 29 March 2021 and was scheduled to be expanded from 4 to 5 weekly flights between 29 April and 28 October 2022. This measure is the result of the high demand expressed by passengers on this strategic route in the airline's network. In addition to other days and flight times adapted to passengers' needs, this increase will boost the air bridge established by Air Senegal between West and Central Africa. Above all, it will offer a choice of easy connections via Dakar to some twenty destinations in West Africa, Europe and the United States", justified the Senegalese flagship.
In the same vein, Air Senegal was also planning to increase the number of flights to the United States (New York and Washington-Baltimore) from two to three per week, starting on 13 June 2022. "The affluence of bookings on this route has encouraged this decision, which aims to satisfy the high demand," said the Senegalese government. But to date, the frequency has remained the same. Contrary to the previously announced densification, it now plans to suspend the New York JFK - Baltimore section. From 23 January 2023, Air Senegal will no longer serve Washington and will close its flight to New York JFK.
Although this reduction in Air Senegal's network is contradictory to its previous ambitions, it is nevertheless in line with the initiatives undertaken since the arrival of the new CEO last July.
Indeed, the company has postponed indefinitely the launch of its route to Ghana, scheduled for 2 September. It has reduced its frequencies to Spain (from 3 to 2 weekly flights), Italy (from 4 to 3 weekly flights) and Morocco (from 6 to 5 weekly flights). In addition, the 4th weekly flight that was to be added to its Dakar - Marseille - Lyon (France) corridor, starting on 8 December, has been cancelled.
