Dynamic future planned for Air Senegal

The Senegalese authorities have appointed ex-Airbus executive, Philip Bohn, as director general of Air Senegal SA to head-up its mission to relaunch the company.

Scheduled to coincide with the December 9 launch of Dakar’s new AIBD International Airport, the country’s government announced that it had entrusted the future of the airline to a man they describe as “possessing the necessary experience and extensive networking abilities”.
Having arrived in the country last September, Bohn, a former director for African development for EADS, will lay the technical foundations of the international airline.
“The government has decided to put Air Senegal in the hands of an international team because it has ambitions to build a national company with an in-built ability to expand and to succeed in the global competitive environment,” Bohn explained.
“So, the Senegalese authorities have injected the necessary finances to ensure the success of this new national company.
“Air Senegal SA is a start-up airline, which is fortunate to have a very strong commitment and support from a state that has made it a strategic ambition under the Plan Senegal Émergent.”
But the new DG does not start with a blank page. The Senegalese authorities have begun to put the foundations of Air Senegal SA in place, in particular by ordering two ATR72-600s at last year’s Paris Air Show. The first of these was delivered in December, while the second was due to arrive in Dakar as African Aerospace was going to press.
Air Senegal SA intends to launch operations with its two ATR72-600s on the domestic network during the second quarter of this year serving Ziguinchor and Cap Skirring from Dakar and also Banjul, Praia and Nouakchott.
The second phase will be with the introduction of two A330neo twin-aisle airliners, the memorandum of understanding for which was signed at the last Dubai Air Show. This was converted into a firm order in February during French president Emmanuel Macron’s state visit to Dakar.
The A330s will serve cities such as Abidjan, Bamako, Conakry, Cotonou, Niamey and Ouagadougou.