Air Sénégal (HC, Dakar Blaise Diagne International) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Airbus for eight A220-300s during the ongoing Dubai Airshow 2019.
The airline hopes to strengthen its regional feeder network into Dakar Blaise Diagne International using the Airbus Canada jets.
"These new A220 aircraft will contribute to developing our long-haul network to Europe and our regional network in Africa. Combined with our recent A330-900 aircraft, this new Airbus fleet reveals Air Senegal's ambition to offer the best travel experience for our passengers," Chief Executive Ibrahima Kane said.
The airline currently operates two A319-100s and two ATR72-600s. It also has one A330-900, which is operated on its behalf by Hi Fly Malta (3L, Malta International) due to the fact that the Senegalese carrier did not hold an EU Third Country Operator (TCO) certificate when taking delivery of the aircraft. Air Sénégal has another A330-900 on order from Airbus and plans to operate it in-house given it now possesses said TCO approval.
Commercial & Marketing Director Assane Sambe recently told ch-aviation that Air Sénégal was hoping to build a hub at Dakar emulating Ethiopian Airlines and Royal Air Maroc's success stories at Addis Ababa International and Casablanca Mohamed V, respectively. It plans to cooperate with regional Senegalese carriers, such as Transair (Senegal) (R2, Dakar Blaise Diagne International), to feed the hub.
Sambe also revealed that the carrier was evaluating creating a regional unit tentatively dubbed Air Sénégal Express.
