Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport

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Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport
Aéroport international
Léopold-Sédar-Senghor
250px
IATA: DKR – ICAO: GOOY
Summary
Airport type Public / Military
Serves Dakar
Location Yoff, Senegal
Hub for Sénégal Airlines
Elevation AMSL 85 ft / 26 m
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Website aeroportdakar.com
Map
DKR is located in Senegal
DKR
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 2009, the airport served about 1,500,000 passengers.[4]

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".[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.

Other facilities

The head office of Sénégal Airlines is located on the airport property.[9] The head office of Agence Nationale de l'Aviation Civile du Sénégal is also on the airport property.[10]

At one time Air Sénégal International had its head office on the grounds of the airport.[11]

The airport is 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 forms the military section of the airport.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Airlines Destinations
Aigle Azur Marseille [12]
Air Algérie Algiers
Air Burkina Bamako, Ouagadougou
Air Côte d'Ivoire Abidjan
Air Europa Madrid
Air France Paris-Charles de Gaulle
Arik Air Accra,[13] Banjul, Cotonou,[14] Freetown, Lagos
ASKY Airlines Bamako, Bissau, Conakry, Lomé[15]
Binter Canarias
operated by Air Nostrum		 Gran Canaria
Brussels Airlines Banjul, Brussels, Conakry
Corsair International Paris-Orly
Delta Air Lines New York-JFK
Eagle Atlantic Airlines Freetown[16]
Equatorial Congo Airlines Bamako, Brazzaville[17]
Emirates Dubai-International
Ethiopian Airlines Addis Ababa, Lomé
Iberia Gran Canaria, Madrid
Kenya Airways Abidjan, Bamako, Nairobi-Jomo Kenyatta
Mauritania Airlines International Conakry (suspended),[18] Nouakchott
Meridiana Milan-Malpensa
Royal Air Maroc Casablanca
Senegal Airlines Abidjan, Bamako, Banjul, Bissau, Cap Skirring, Conakry (suspended),[18] Cotonou, Douala, Libreville, Niamey, Nouakchott, Ouagadougou, Praia, Ziguinchor
South African Airways Johannesburg-O.R. Tambo, Washington-Dulles
TACV Cabo Verde Airlines Bissau,[19] Praia
TAP Portugal Lisbon
TUI Airlines Netherlands Seasonal: Amsterdam
Tunisair Tunis
Turkish Airlines1 Istanbul-Atatürk
Vueling Seasonal: Barcelona[20]

Notes: ^1 : Turkish Airlines's flight from Istanbul 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

Airlines Destinations
Air France Cargo Paris-Charles de Gaulle
Emirates SkyCargo Campinas-Viracopos, Dubai-Al Maktoum,[21] Frankfurt[22]
Etihad Cargo Abu Dhabi, Nouakchott[23]
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[24] 1,279,028 N/A 23,387 N/A
2002[24] 1,358,538 +6.2% Increase 16,953 -38.0% Decrease
2003[24] 1,482,726 +9.1% Increase 17,051 +0.6% Increase
2004[24] 1,566,573 +5.7% Increase 21,159 +24.1% Increase
2005[24] 1,605,010 +2.5% Increase 24,795 +17.2% Increase
2006[25] 1,676,881 +4.5% Increase 22,032 -12.5% Decrease
2007[26] 1,821,956 +8.7% Increase 24,771 +12.4% Increase
2008[4] 1,802,559 -1.1% Decrease 21,789 -13.7% Decrease
2009[4] 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

  • On 29 August 1960, Air France Flight 343 crashed while attempting to land at Dakar-Yoff Airport during the precursor to what became Hurricane Donna. All 63 passengers and crew on board were killed.[28]

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

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External links

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 (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. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Smith, Patrick. "Ask the Pilot," Salon. 25 May 2007.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Mentions Légales." Sénégal Airlines. Retrieved on 27 January 2011. "'GROUPE AIR SENEGAL, Société Anonyme avec conseil d'administration au capital de 16.500.000.000 FCFA, opérant sous la dénomination commerciale " SENEGAL AIRLINES ", sise Aéroport Léopold Sédar SENGHOR BP 38265 – DAKAR YOFF (SENEGAL), immatriculée au RCCM de Dakar sous le n° SN DKR 2009 B 11310, NINEA 40694662G3, représentée aux fins des présentes par Edgardo BADIALI, Directeur Général."
  10. ↑ "Accueil." Agence Nationale de l'Aviation Civile du Sénégal. Retrieved on 27 January 2011. "BP : 8184 AEROPORT LEOPOLD SEDAR SENGHOR DAKAR-YOFF"
  11. ↑ "Directory: World Airlines." Flight International. 12–18 March 2002. 63.
  12. ↑ http://airlineroute.net/2015/08/20/zi-mrsdkr-dec15/
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ December 2014 Timetable, http://www.flyasky.com/asky/horaires/dkr
  16. ↑ April 2014 Timetable, http://www.eagleatlanticairlines.com/www.eagleatlanticairlines.com/us/en/sched.html
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Etihad cargo summer 2015 schedule
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 24.3 24.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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