Senegal’s national airline cancels several routes

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Senegal’s national airline announced on Wednesday that it would suspend flights to seven destinations from mid-September as part of a “restructured network” amid criticism of passenger delays.

Air Senegal will suspend flights from Dakar to New York from September 19, to Milan, Libreville, Douala in Cameroon and Barcelona from September 20, and to Marseille and Lyon from September 22.

A post on the airline’s Facebook page said the move was to “optimise” its network.

The Senegalese daily newspaper L’Observateur reported on Monday that the reduction in Air Senegal’s connections was due to a “rationalization of resources, the inadequacy of the fleet and the lack of profitability of certain services”.

This comes as Air Senegal is under criticism as passengers regularly complain about delays on domestic and international flights.

The state-owned airline Air Senegal began operations in May 2018 after emerging from the bankruptcy of Senegal Airlines in April 2016.

The latter replaced Air Senegal International, in which Senegal and Morocco had stakes, in 2009.

The launch of the latest version of the airline is part of a plan to make Dakar a regional air transport hub around the international airport that opened in December 2017 and modernized provincial airports.

acc/sbk