It’s an interesting time for African aviation, with Kenya Airways launching flights to New York, Air Tanzania having a 787 but still not operating it on longhaul flights, and Air Zimbabwe having ordered a few 777s, just to give some examples.
Here’s a cool update for an airline that plans on launching their first intercontinental, widebody flight. Air Senegal has announced that they’ll fly daily between Dakar and Paris as of February 1, 2019. This airline presently only operates a fleet of five planes, including four 737s and one turboprop. So the addition of two A330neo aircraft is a significant step for the airline.
This new flight will operate with the following schedule, per @airlineroute:
HC403 Dakar to Paris departing 9:50AM arriving 4:15PM
HC404 Paris to Dakar departing 6:45PM arriving 11:30PM
I’d love to fly Air Senegal on this route, though business class fares are pretty steep, at ~1,700USD in each direction, or ~3,000USD roundtrip. Those seem like high introductory fares for a new route on a fairly short flight, though maybe the fares will get cheaper over time.
The A330 will be configured with 32 business class seats and 258 economy seats. At ~2,600 miles in each direction, this won’t be an especially long flight.
I can’t find anything online about how Air Senegal will be configuring their A330s. I tried to go through the process of making a booking to see if they had an A330 seatmap, though they didn’t. So I guess that remains a mystery for now. Air Senegal only confirmed their order for two A330neos earlier this year, so it’s about a year from when they placed the order until when they’re commencing longhaul operations.
If you wanted to add this to part of an itinerary from the US, you could redeem just 25,000 Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles for a one-way business class ticket on South African Airways between Washington and Dakar.
I’m curious to see what they do with their second A330neo. Maybe New York, since that’s all the rage for African airlines nowadays? 😉
Has anyone flown Air Senegal, or know more about how their A330s will be configured?
Membership is free and takes no more information than commenting as a guest. Earn status points for good contributions, and see fewer ads as your status grows.