The airline Air Senegal announced on Wednesday that seven destinations would no longer be served from mid-September as part of the “optimization” of its network, amid criticism of the quality of its service.
Air Senegal will suspend flights from Dakar to New York from September 19, to Milan, Libreville, Douala and Barcelona from September 20, and to Marseille and Lyon from September 22.
The move is aimed at “optimizing” its network, it said in a message posted on its Facebook page.
According to the Senegalese daily L’Observateur published on Monday, the reduction in the number of destinations is explained by “the rationalization of resources, the insufficiency of the fleet and the lack of profitability of certain services.”
Air Senegal has been the target of recurring criticism over the quality of its service. Passengers regularly complain about delays on domestic and international flights of the Senegalese state-controlled company, which began operations in May 2018.
Air Senegal was created after the bankruptcy in 2016 of Senegal Airlines, which itself replaced, in 2009, Air Senegal International, owned by the Senegalese and Moroccan states.
The launch of this company is one of three parts of a plan aimed at making Dakar a regional air hub, with the international airport, inaugurated in December 2017, and the rehabilitation of provincial airports.
