Air Senegal Will Fly To New York & Baltimore

In terms of West Africa connections from IAD, you would still be better off flying into ADD or BRU (and maybe even ACC if United ends up codesharing with an airline there).

Would be pretty cool to fly Air Senegal between JFK and IAD...

It’s a NO from me - As soon as there’s even a mention of the word not allowed to fly to the U S A for safety reasons

"Would be pretty cool to fly Air Senegal between JFK and IAD…"

Assuming they let passengers off the plane in JFK to stretch their legs, there's always throwaway ticketing (with carry-on bags only), LOL 🙂

Sounds like a great way to light money on fire

Any possibility that the long connection times in JFK are to allow passengers to clear immigration? Or would they be allowed to operate JFK to IAD as technically an international flight?
I'd assume this is very similar to Qantas' Australia to LAX to JFK - does anyone know if passengers on that flight clear immigration in LAX or JFK?

They need to clear custom and immigration at the first US entry point which is JFK then fly domestic between JFK - IAD. That is why it is taking too long to connect at JFK.
Off load luggage and then reload luggage to IAD.
I agree with Ben’s suggestion of flying triangle between these three cities.
Else, the long wait at JFK will be the killer for this flight.

Perhaps a better idea would have been to switch the order in which the US destinations are served to promote direct to IAD.

Also have been hearing that they want to partner with a US airline for this route. I would think these smaller African airlines would want to partner with an established major US or European airline for such long-distance routes to make them viable...

South African's route was a stopover too, which you've conveniently excluded.

I've wondered for a while about the viability of a YUL-DSS (previously DKR) route. The language connections might make for a good fit. If air travels really grows in a post-pandemic world...... maybe?

But mostly I want easier an connection to visit my sister. When I took my family of 5 to Senegal in 2016 I saved several thousand dollars by flying YHZ-YYZ-CDG-DKR. It was an exhausting journey -- over well 24 hours in each direction. I could have saved time going through NYC but that involved changing airports and terrible pricing. If Air Senegal came to Montreal and partnered with Westjet or Air Canada for connecting flights then another trip would be much easier - if it were priced competitively.

@smallmj - Montreal is the third largest North American origin point for Dakar, behind New York and Washington. The traffic primarily flows over Casablanca or Paris.

Very cool, I hope this happens! I hope they get the rights to sell JFK-IAD, though I doubt that will happen.

Correct me if I'm wrong, my memory is that Qantas was not allowed to separately sell LAX-JFK?

@Paul: 'I’d assume this is very similar to Qantas’ Australia to LAX to JFK – does anyone know if passengers on that flight clear immigration in LAX or JFK?'
Passengers clear immigration at LAX. QF used a BNE origin aircraft for that leg of what is nominally a SYD-LAX-JFK service, and the onward flight consolidates pax from BNE, SYD and MEL.

@Motion to Dismiss: 'Correct me if I’m wrong, my memory is that Qantas was not allowed to separately sell LAX-JFK?'
Correct, although they can sell tickets from Australia that have a stopover in LA before continuing to New York.

How are departure and arrival times determined? A 01:30 A.M. departure and 06:00 A.M. arrival feels wildly inconvenient on both sides.

Senegal should have used the money to improve it's infrastructure.

Totally agree on the inefficiency of such a routing, at least as far as the Washington portion of the route is concerned. It's not 1970, so people do not have the patience to wait around for various stops - not to mention the hassle that will undoubtedly occur when everyone has to clear customs and immigration at JFK on the inbound (that's inevitable). That's not a selling point for flying from Dakar to DC.

I think they have the right idea, but the wrong execution. A triangle routing would be more efficient, but again some pax would be the losers depending on the leg/direction. To me, more efficient would be to go all in and utilize the aircraft full time, going to/from JFK on some days and IAD on others.

2,5h and 2h in New York are a long connecting times? Especially when you need clear immigration and customs. What I didnot get?

PATHETIC!!! What a bizarre routing and timing. Just another African airline that has no idea what it is doing with lousy service. UGH!!!

@ ChurnieEls - the stopover was in DKR, for pax originating in DKR or only traveling to DKR from IAD, it was nonstop.

The choice of JFK makes no sense despite the large Senegalese population there. Delta used to fly a 757 twice/wk for years and suddenly flies a wide-bodied daily. How can Air Sen compete with this? Worse, Delta's fares are low - I'm going DC-JFK-Dakar in a few weeks RT for $1,000 - in premium economy!!! Granted fares will increase but where's the value added? They should have followed Delta's method of covering two US cities: fly ACC-JFK for half the weekly flights and ACC-ATL for the other. Although I haven't researched this, I believe ATL has a larger Senegalese population than DC - or close, so ATL would have been a better choice - picking up connecting traffic from the West and South.

In the late 80's Air France had a flight CDG-JFK-IAD and returning IAD-JFK-CDG.
It was operated by a 747 and one could purchase a ticket CDG - IAD. I remember about 90% got off in New York, but those of us continuing on to Washington did NOT clear US Customs & Immigration in JFK. We would continue on to Washington. No other passengers were allowed on the flight.

This is a great new. But the route is not the best actually with the change of Delta's schedule. Suggestions

Dkr/IAD/ATL would be a good route, Also Dkr/Acc/Dca or Iad.
Any other major airports than JFK would work.

This is a great start and not any debut is easy. Just need to keep it consistent and efficient.

Paris - New York - Washington - Montreal - Beirut - Dubai - Guanzhou are "bankable" routes from Dakar, especially that there are arrival and departure "banks" from african points beyond Dakar.
Senegalese Diaspora in the US already contributes 100 Million USD per year to the local economy in Senegal. There will be lots of cargo potential that will help Little Senegal in New York get easy and fast access to perishables like fish, vegetables, fruits, etc...
If there is no cargo an A321LR with more frequencies could be better.

John - re "bankable" destinations, good points. However, Delta could be gobbling up a lot of West African traffic from Conakry, Nouakchott, Bamako, Niamey, Ouagadougou, and even Abidjan since none of these capitals has nonstop flights to the US. Presently, it is exceedingly difficult, from what I've heard, for West Africans to go to the US via Paris on AF - but i haven't seen any effort by DL to capture this market (by working out connecting flights with regional carriers like Air Senegal, Asky or Air Cote d'Ivoire). Re cargo, very little from Senegal. Any fresh food to the US is a challenge due to import regs, and not much else is exportable at the moment (except Senegalese hair extensions). don't think Air Senegal would have much cargo demand I'm afraid.

Andrew - re the Government of Senegal is doing what TACV and Icelandair have not achieved by focusing on two routes JFK where there is Diaspora and IAD where there is lot of Diplomatic Representation with diplomats and their families. The missing point where there is lot of Senegalese or West African Diaspora will be Montreal but the market is less important. There is indeed a potential to develop a big hub in Dakar even though there is not the oil business like in ACC. This move is also important as Ethiopian Airlines could become ultra dominant otherwise.
Regarding cargo there is not only perishables due to FDA Administration regulations, there are other items such as clothing, home furniture and exports from the US to Africa via Dakar. The anciliaries for excess luggage itself can generate 10,000 USD per leg which is around 20,000 for the return flight. Point of Sales for this route will be in Senegal for sure, but a good volume of sales is expected from France, USA and even Canada.

HC407 New York to Washington departing 8:30AM arriving 10:00AM it should be +1 day or not?

It's great to see more airlines going transatlantic. But, operationally, this tag-on leg will be problematic in winter. When bad weather hits NYC, and ground stops are implemented on the short legs into JFK, this flight will be stuck in DC awaiting approval and hence causing a big delay out of NYC for Senegal.

Also, I would love to hear how they plan to crew this flight: does 1 crew op Wed DSS-JFK, then do the long day turn to IAD on Sat, then work the flight back to Senegal on the following Wed night? Or, do the same crew do both legs inbound, and then return on both legs the following date? I would hope the crew are not too tired after doing a red-eye into JFK and then having to endure a delayed onward leg to Dulles.

This is really absurd. The biggest competition is from Royal Air Maroc which has great daily service out of IAD with an easy transfer in CMN to Dakar. And they are One World.

Senegal has a lot of tourism potential. Both in terms of nature and fantastic beaches, as well as history. If they market this route right, then this could become a popular holiday route for the many African Americans that you have living on the east coast, who want to travel back to the roots, while still having great resort hotels to stay in.

The DC, NYC and Houston areas are home to significant West African immigrant communities, so there is VFR traffic.

I like Senegalese food and have a long affinity for francophone countries, so I look forward to this service for those reasons and more. I just hope it turns out to be a sustainable service.

You are viewing this as a highly educated, frequent flier. 99% of the population could not care less that they are One World. They look at pricing, flight time, and that's it.

"While New York and Washington (which Baltimore is near)..." It's a little known fact that BWI is actually the same distance from DC as IAD. I love to take Amtrak from Capitol Hll to BWI--the BWI station is on airport property.

For those of us living in Maryland & DC BWI offers a much better departure point than IAD. For all of my international flights it’s simply easier to drive to PHL than IAD and traffic is much more predictable with alternate routes, unlike IAD which requires me to play Russian roulette by picking one of the only 2 Beltway bridges linking DC/MD and IAD. Not worth the risk IMHO.

you clear at lax, qantas staff at LAX wanted to have travelers go right through to JFk to clear customs but immigration said it was "TOO DANGEROUS". lol

They should have it enter the US at BWI and continue to JFK. The reason is BWI has so few international arrivals, so immigration and customs is super-fast. I was on Condor's FRA-BWI flight a few years ago, and it looks like BWI even called up airport office staff to help direct passengers through immigration lines. We made it from wheels-down to grabbing the airport shuttle to the parking lot in 35 minutes!

Bill, I don't think thats accurate...many people who live in MD (ex. Montgomery County) or DC would prefer to fly from IAD or DCA, rather than BWI (unless you're a Southwest loyalist). BWI is a solid 10+ miles farther for me and only offers a handful of international flights...even for domestic flights, I'd still choose to fly from IAD or DCA.

North American Airlines flew BWI-JFK and on to ACC and LOS. They sold the domestic portion, which I flew once. Even got a nice sandwich. As I was deplaning at JFK, F/A said you’re lucky you’re getting off here.

I actually think BWI is a great move, wayyy less traffic getting to BWI from DC, Montgomery County, PG County, Arlington, etc than getting to IAD. Plus you can take the dang MARC or Amtrak train from DC Union Station to BWI, something you *still can't do* to IAD after decades.

Do think this flight will be safe to travel

I think it’s clear from this thread that we all have our own opinions on which DMV area airports are convenient, haha. While there is no direct train to IAD, you can still take the Washington Flyer bus from one of the metro stops which I’ve easily done on multiple occasions coming from Montgomery County…also that’ll change whenever the direct metro line to IAD is completed (which the construction of is taking forever naturally). I also still think DC residents would prefer IAD over BWI given the shorter distance and metro accessible option via bus noted above, but I could be wrong!

By Washington Flyer bus, I meant “the Silver Line Express Bus, which provides a convenient, economical connection between Dulles' Terminal and the Wiehle-Reston East Metrorail Station on Metrotrail's Silver Line” lol

On the contrary, this is a great schedule. Enjoy a full day of work or play in Dakar, have a nice dinner at Le Lagon, head to the airport, get a full night's sleep inflight on a flat bed, arrive at JFK when there are hardly any other international flights arriving, sail through Immigration. Delta's schedule is similar.

Often times return tickets are cheaper than one way tickets, so that is not surprising. There may be other reasons for having the flight such as officials or senior people not being able to fly a foreign carrier. And I am surprised that you find a couple of thousand dollars for business class expensive these days. Seems you haven't checked flights for other destinations recently.

Very disappointed the way they handle your luggage. I tried the BWI- DSS route to give them a chance but will never do this again. I have lost a bag and no one is able to tell me where it’s at and when I will get it. I am supposed to wait for a phone call.
Outbound flight was late almost 4 hours with no compensation. Weak customer service