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New York, aux États-Unis, a décollé dans la nuit de mercredi à jeudi de l'aéroport Blaise Diagne de Dakar. Cette nouvelle desserte, retardée à cause de la crise sanitaire, est un grand événement pour la jeune compagnie nationale, lancée en 2018.">
The first Air Senegal flight to New York, in the United States, took off overnight from Wednesday to Thursday from Blaise Diagne airport in Dakar. This new service, delayed because of the health crisis, is a big event for the young national company, launched in 2018.
With our correspondent in Dakar, Charlotte Idrac
This flight ” marks an important critical level In the development of the network, according to the general manager of the company, Ibrahima Kane, in the difficult context of the Covid-19 pandemic.
All tickets for this inaugural flight were sold at a preferential rate. The round trip was available from 479,000 CFA francs (around 730 euros). The pace will be two flights per week to start and will be on board an Airbus A330neo. Connections will also be made with the African capitals served by Air Senegal.
This new line participates in the stated objective to make Dakar a ” regional hub “. But is the timing right, in the context of a pandemic? ” From Dakar to the United States, in terms of health, it is much easier. A West African holding an American visa cannot take a Dakar-Paris, Paris-New-York flight. You cannot leave the European Union with this visa. On the other hand, to fly from Dakar to go to the United States, yes. So there is indeed a playing card », Explains Mansour Diop, expert in air transport.
Air Senegal counts on around 42,000 passengers in the first year. The market, until now held by the American company Delta Airlines, is there, according to Mansour Diop. ” These are flights that not only cater to West Africans, but it interests a lot of Senegalese because there is a very strong community here in the United States. But also in terms of the return of Africans and Americans to the continent and a whole tourism that has developed », Adds the expert.
The company also plans a capacity of 12 tonnes of freight per flight.
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