Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport

Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport
Aéroport international
Léopold-Sédar-Senghor
IATA: DKR – ICAO: GOOY
Summary
Airport type Public / Military
Serves Dakar
Location Yoff, Senegal
Elevation AMSL 85 ft / 26 m
Coordinates 14°44′22″N 017°29′24″W / 14.73944°N 17.49000°W / 14.73944; -17.49000Coordinates: 14°44′22″N 017°29′24″W / 14.73944°N 17.49000°W / 14.73944; -17.49000
Website aeroportdakar.com
Map
DKR

Location of airport in Senegal

Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
18/36 3,490 11,450 Asphalt
03/21 1,500 4,921 Asphalt
Statistics (2009)
Passengers 1,500,000
Source: Airport website,[1] DAFIF[2][3]

Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport (French: Aéroport international Léopold-Sédar-Senghor,[1] IATA: DKR, ICAO: GOOY) is an international airport serving Dakar, the capital of Senegal. The airport is situated near the town of Yoff, north of Dakar. It was known as Dakar Yoff International Airport (French: Aéroport international de Dakar-Yoff) until 9 October 1996,[1] when it was renamed in honor of Léopold Sédar Senghor, the first president of Senegal.

The airport can handle jumbo jets, including the Airbus A340-600 from South African Airways, and the Boeing 777-200 from Air France. In 2015, the airport served about 1,986,000 passengers.

In 2007, Patrick Smith, author of the Ask the Pilot column for Salon.com, called it the "World's Worst Airport", commenting that he found there "only squalor, an unnerving sense of confinement and to some extent danger".[4] As of 2012, the airport itself had improved security but still suffered from a chaotic ground transport situation, with risky unlicensed taxis and aggressive touts.[5]

Construction of a replacement airport 45 km inland from Léopold Sédar Senghor began in 2007. Saudi Binladin Group is constructing the new airport, named after the first black African elected to France's parliament in 1914, Blaise Diagne. It was initially expected to take 30 months to build and is designed for an initial capacity of 3 million passengers a year – almost double the 1.7 million annual traffic handled by the existing airport.[6] The opening date has been delayed several times; the current projection was for December 2014, but the date of completion is unknown.

History

During World War II, Dakar Airport was a key link in the United States Army Air Forces Air Transport Command Natal-Dakar air route, which provided a transoceanic link between Brazil and French West Africa after 1942. Massive amounts of cargo were stored at Dakar, which were then transported along the North African Cairo-Dakar transport route for cargo, transiting aircraft and personnel. From Dakar, flights were made to Dakhla Airport, near Villa Cisneros in what was then Spanish Sahara, or to Atar Airport, depending on the load on the air route. In addition to being the western terminus of the North African route, Dakar was the northern terminus for the South African route, which transported personnel to Pretoria, South Africa, with numerous stopovers at Robertsfield (now Roberts International Airport), Liberia, the Belgian Congo and Northern Rhodesia.[7]

Before the introduction of long-range jets in the mid-1970s, it used to be an important stopover point for the routes between Europe and South America, along with the Canary Islands.

The airport was a Space Shuttle landing site until 1987, when it was determined that a dip in the runway could damage the shuttle upon landing.[8]

It used to be one of the five main hubs of the now defunct multi-national airline Air Afrique.

The airport has often been used as a stopover on flights between North America and Southern Africa. Delta Air Lines started service on 4 December 2006 between Atlanta and Johannesburg, with an intermediate stop in Dakar. This stopover has since been removed. It currently serves Dakar nonstop from New York-JFK. South African Airways used Dakar as a stopover with both its flights from Johannesburg to Washington and New York. The stopover for the New York-JFK flight has recently been removed, it is now a non-stop from Johannesburg to New York-JFK, operated by an Airbus A340-600. The Johannesburg to Washington-IAD flight still stops in Dakar, with that flight being South African Airways' service to Senegal, and West Africa as a region.

Senegal Airlines had a hub operation and their headquarters at the airport before its demise in April, 2016.[9][10][11]

Other facilities

The head office of Agence Nationale de l'Aviation Civile du Sénégal is also on the airport property.[12]

At one time Air Sénégal International had its head office on the grounds of the airport.[13]

The airport iwa also home to the French Air Force's Dakar-Ouakam Air Base (Base aérienne Dakar-Ouakam; also known as Air Base 160, Base aérienne 160 Dakar-Ouakam). The Dakar-Ouakam Air Base formed the military section of the airport.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

AirlinesDestinations
Aigle Azur Lyon, Marseille[14]
Air Algérie Algiers, Nouakchott
Air Burkina Bamako, Ouagadougou
Air Côte d'Ivoire Abidjan
Air Europa Madrid
Air France Paris-Charles de Gaulle
Arik Air Abidjan,[15] Accra,[16] Lagos
ASKY Airlines Bamako, Bissau, Conakry, Lomé[17]
Binter Canarias
operated by Air Nostrum 		Gran Canaria, Tenerife-North
Brussels Airlines Banjul, Brussels, Conakry
Corsair International Paris-Orly
Delta Air Lines New York-JFK
Emirates Dubai-International
Ethiopian Airlines Addis Ababa, Bamako
Iberia Madrid
Kenya Airways Abidjan, Bamako, Nairobi-Jomo Kenyatta
Mauritania Airlines International Conakry (suspended),[18] Nouakchott
Meridiana Milan-Malpensa
Royal Air Maroc Casablanca
South African Airways Johannesburg-O.R. Tambo, Washington-Dulles
TACV Cabo Verde Airlines Bissau,[19] Praia
TAP Portugal Lisbon
TUI Airlines Netherlands Seasonal charter: Amsterdam
Tunisair Tunis
Turkish Airlines Istanbul-Atatürk1
Vueling Barcelona[20]
Notes

^1 : Turkish Airlines's flight from Istanbul-Atatürk to Dakar stops in Nouakchott, but the flight from Dakar to Istanbul is nonstop. Turkish Airlines does not have local traffic rights on the NKC – DKR sector.

Cargo

AirlinesDestinations
Air France Cargo Paris-Charles de Gaulle
Emirates SkyCargo Campinas-Viracopos, Dubai-Al Maktoum,[21] Frankfurt[22]
Lufthansa Cargo Buenos Aires-Ezeiza, Campinas-Viracopos, Frankfurt, Montevideo-Carrasco
Med Airlines Casablanca
ULS Airlines Cargo Istanbul-Atatürk

Statistics

Annual statistics
Year Total passengers Change Cargo (in tonnes) Change
2001[23] 1,279,028 N/A 23,387 N/A
2002[23] 1,358,538 +6.2% Increase 16,953 -38.0% Decrease
2003[23] 1,482,726 +9.1% Increase 17,051 +0.6% Increase
2004[23] 1,566,573 +5.7% Increase 21,159 +24.1% Increase
2005[23] 1,605,010 +2.5% Increase 24,795 +17.2% Increase
2006[24] 1,676,881 +4.5% Increase 22,032 -12.5% Decrease
2007[25] 1,821,956 +8.7% Increase 24,771 +12.4% Increase
2008[26] 1,802,559 -1.1% Decrease 21,789 -13.7% Decrease
2009[26] 1,554,546 -13.8% Decrease 21,572 -1.0% Decrease
2010[27] 1,687,006 +8.5% Increase 24,112 +11.8% Increase

Incidents

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

  1. 1 2 3 (French) Aéroport international Léopold-Sédar-Senghor, official website
  2. ↑ Airport information for GOOY from DAFIF (effective October 2006)
  3. ↑ Airport information for DKR at Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF (effective October 2006).
  4. ↑ Smith, Patrick. "Ask the Pilot," Salon. 25 May 2007.
  5. ↑ Despesse, Jean-Louis (2012). GéoGuide Sénégal, 3e édition. Gallimard Loisirs. pp. 74, 83.
  6. ↑ Independent Newspapers Online. "Wade lays foundation for new airport". Independent Online. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  7. ↑ "File:Atcroutes-1sep1945.jpg". Retrieved 6 June 2015. External link in |title= (help)
  8. ↑ "Space Shuttle Transoceanic Abort Landing (TAL) Sites: Banjul, Gambia". John F. Kennedy Space Center. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
  9. ↑ "Dakar shuts down Senegal Airlines; new carrier to emerge". ch-aviation. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  10. ↑ Cisse, Malick. "Africa's airline graveyard piles up: Senegal shuts down national carrier amid $110 million debt". Mail & Guardian Africa. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  11. ↑ Mentions Légales." Sénégal Airlines. Retrieved on 27 January 2011.
  12. ↑ "Accueil." Agence Nationale de l'Aviation Civile du Sénégal. Retrieved on 27 January 2011. "BP : 8184 AEROPORT LEOPOLD SEDAR SENGHOR DAKAR-YOFF"
  13. ↑ "Directory: World Airlines." Flight International. 12–18 March 2002. 63.
  14. ↑ http://airlineroute.net/2015/08/20/zi-mrsdkr-dec15/
  15. ↑ http://airlineroute.net/2016/02/11/w3-dkrbjl-feb16/
  16. ↑ "Aril Air Launch Scissor Hub in from late-April 2014". Airline Route. 28 April 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  17. ↑ June 2016 Timetable, http://www.flyasky.com/asky/horaires/dkr
  18. ↑ "Ebola outbreak reaches Senegal, riots break out in Guinea". Reuters India. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  19. ↑ "TACV Adds Bissau; Combines Amsterdam / Paris Service from June 2015". Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  20. ↑ "Vueling operará siete nuevas rutas desde Barcelona en verano, entre ellas, a Jerez de la Frontera". 20 Minutos. 29 October 2013. Retrieved 3 November 2013.
  21. ↑ "Emirates SkyCargo Freighter Operations get ready for DWC move". Emirates SkyCargo. 2 April 2014.
  22. ↑ "Emirates SkyCargo Freighter Schedule" (PDF). Emirates SkyCargo. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  23. 1 2 3 4 5 "Situation Economique et Sociale de la Région de Dakar (Édition 2005)" (pdf) (in French). Agence Nationale de la statistique et de la démographie. p. 140. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
  24. ↑ "Situation Economique et Sociale de la Région de Dakar (Édition 2006)" (pdf) (in French). Agence Nationale de la statistique et de la démographie. October 2007. pp. 219–220. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
  25. ↑ "Situation Economique et Sociale (Édition 2008)" (pdf) (in French). Agence Nationale de la statistique et de la démographie. November 2009. p. 148. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
  26. 1 2 "Rapport de la Situation Economique et Sociale (Ed. 2009)" (pdf) (in French). Agence Nationale de la statistique et de la démographie. 6 January 2011. p. 167. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
  27. ↑ "Situation Economique et Sociale (Édition 2010)" (pdf) (in French). Agence Nationale de la statistique et de la démographie. December 2011. p. 228. Retrieved 14 June 2012. Les mouvements de passagers ont aussi crû de 8,5%, passant de 1 554 546 en 2009 à 1 687 006 passagers en 2010. [...] Le fret a également progressé de 21 572 tonnes en 2009 à 24 112 en 2010, soit un accroissement de 11,8%
  28. ↑ Harro Ranter (29 August 1960). "ASN Aircraft accident Lockheed L-1049G Super Constellation F-BHBC Dakar-Yoff Airport (DKR)". Retrieved 6 June 2015.
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