While Air Senegal isn’t exactly a major airline, they run a fascinating little operation, as far as I’m concerned. The airline operates a fleet of five planes, including an A330-900neo, two A319s, and two ATR72s.
The airline has a second A330-900neo on order that should be delivered shortly, and it has been interesting to see their plans with that.
Air Senegal’s A330-900neo
Air Senegal’s Paris Flight & Washington Plans
Currently Air Senegal’s flagship route is from Dakar to Paris, and they operate that daily with an A330-900neo. That flight operates with the following schedule:
HC403 Dakar to Paris departing 12:35AM arriving 7:00AM
HC404 Paris to Dakar departing 9:00AM arriving 1:45PM
On top of that, Senegal’s Minister of Tourism and Air Transport recently revealed that the airline would start flying between Dakar and Washington within the next six months. Presumably that flight would also be operated by an A330-900neo.
No official details have been revealed about that otherwise, and it’s anyone’s guess whether they’re fully serious, or whether this was just optimistic talk. This announcement came shortly after South African Airways cut flights between Dakar and Washington.
Air Senegal’s A330-900neo business class
Air Senegal’s New Marseille & Barcelona Triangle Flight
Air Senegal has revealed their next A330-900neo route, and interestingly it’s not to Washington. As of December 9, 2019, Air Senegal will operate 4x weekly flights to Marseille and Barcelona with the following schedule:
HC405 Dakar to Marseille departing 12:20AM arriving 6:30AM
HC405 Marseille to Barcelona departing 7:55AM arriving 9:05AM
HC405 Barcelona to Dakar departing 10:25AM arriving 2:05PM
That’s a unique route, and it sure would be fun if you could book Air Senegal exclusively between Marseille and Barcelona (though I doubt that will be possible).
A further French destination makes sense, given the ties with Senegal, and it also appears that Barcelona has a fairly sizable Senegalese population (though it would seem to me not enough to support a flight like this).
Air Senegal’s A330-900neo economy class
Bottom Line
To me this is an interesting new triangle route for Air Senegal. With the current aircraft utilization, Air Senegal could still fly 3x weekly from Dakar to Washington. Alternatively they could revise their schedule a bit, and they could easily increase frequencies beyond that.
I’m still curious to see if the Dakar to Washington flight actually happens.
BCN-DSS is already served by VY seasonally.
As others have mentioned, I am also surprised to see the route be operated by their flagship aircraft, especially given that the a319 should be well within range (IB operates a mix of a319s, a320s and a321s to DSS and they have a very dense configuration). Add in the IAD rumors and it makes it seem even more unlikely.
@import the vikings Air Senegal isnt going to get any significant connectivity in BCN either......
As others have mentioned, I am also surprised to see the route be operated by their flagship aircraft, especially given that the a319 should be well within range (IB operates a mix of a319s, a320s and a321s to DSS and they have a very dense configuration). Add in the IAD rumors and it makes it seem even more unlikely.
@import the vikings Air Senegal isnt going to get any significant connectivity in BCN either... only hosts hubs for LEVEL and Vueling (both partnered with IB who operates on MAD-DSS)
I won't be surprised if they get traffic rights between BCN and MRS. Ethiopian also has traffic rights between OSL and ARN, after all. :D
But this route on a 339? It might be a bit optimistic, even given the population with Senegalese heritage at the Cote d'Azure and around Barcelona. They're not exactly known for their deep pockets, so they won't be commuting weekly. I guess tourists must fill the rest of the...
I won't be surprised if they get traffic rights between BCN and MRS. Ethiopian also has traffic rights between OSL and ARN, after all. :D
But this route on a 339? It might be a bit optimistic, even given the population with Senegalese heritage at the Cote d'Azure and around Barcelona. They're not exactly known for their deep pockets, so they won't be commuting weekly. I guess tourists must fill the rest of the seats, and in that case BCN makes sense, as it's a large airport. So then they better start looking for some partner airlines for codeshare for feeders to BCN. In that respect MRS doesn't make sense, as it's more or less a low cost carrier hub. FR won't codeshare with anyone, nor offer connecting flights. NCE would be more logical in a way, but I don't know if their runway and airport can support such large aircraft.
So I guess what Sal says... better polish that A319 a bit again. :)
No way this route will support a 339. If it sticks around it will be an A319 within six months.
Interesting that in Sabre, a quick check shows that Dec 9, MRS-DKR has already been cancelled
19DECMRSDKR«
09DEC MON MRS/Z‡1 DKR/-1
X HC 405 J C MRSDSS 755A 205P 330 M 1 XTWF DC /E
D Z W A Y B M K H Q T L V R N E X
as well as Dec 12 DKR-MRS
X HC 405 J C D DSSMRS 1220A 630A 330 M 0 XTWF DC /E
Z W A Y B M K H Q T L V R N E X G
#gamechanger
@Lucky -- Interesting route. In today's newsletter from the Culinary Backstreets food-tour company, they announced a new Marseille tour: https://culinarybackstreets.com/cities-category/marseille/2019/marseille/.
It kind of surprises me neither you nor Tiffany have taken a CB tour (they're considered among the best in the world). I've done one and hope to take another soon. I hope you get to try one, one day.
@Peer
Guess you mean capital not capitol, which is a building that houses a legislature
According to their website, the upcoming destination is Sao Paulo.
A lot of typos in this post and the GCMapper image of Dakar - Marseille - Barcelona - Dakar is missing the last line segment. Lucky you must be too sleepy when writing this lol
Flying "from Dakar to Senegal" makes no sense as Dakar is Senegals capitol. Guess you mean Paris considering the link.