Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport (, ) is an international freight and former passenger

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

serving

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...

, the capital of

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

. The airport is situated near the town of

Yoff Yoff (; ) is a town (''commune d'arrondissement''), part of the city (''commune'') of Dakar, located in Senegal. It lies north of downtown Dakar and immediately north of Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport. The town is built along the br ...

, a northern suburb of Dakar. It was known as Dakar-Yoff International Airport () until 9 October 1996, when it was renamed in honor of

Léopold Sédar Senghor Léopold Sédar Senghor ( , , ; 9 October 1906 – 20 December 2001) was a Senegalese politician, cultural theorist and poet who served as the first president of Senegal from 1960 to 1980. Ideologically an African socialist, Senghor was one ...

, the first president of Senegal.

History

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Dakar Airport was a key link in the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

Air Transport Command Air Transport Command (ATC) was a United States Air Force unit that was created during World War II as the strategic airlift component of the United States Army Air Forces. It had two main missions, the first being the delivery of supplies a ...

Natal-Dakar air route, which provided a transoceanic link between

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and

French West Africa French West Africa (, ) was a federation of eight French colonial empires#Second French colonial empire, French colonial territories in West Africa: Colonial Mauritania, Mauritania, French Senegal, Senegal, French Sudan (now Mali), French Guin ...

after 1942. Massive amounts of cargo were stored at Dakar, which were then transported along the North African

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

-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 Spanish Sahara (; ), officially the Spanish Possessions in the Sahara from 1884 to 1958, then Province of the Sahara between 1958 and 1976, was the name used for the modern territory of Western Sahara when it was occupied and ruled by Spain bet ...

, 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 Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

, South Africa, with numerous stopovers at Robertsfield (now

Roberts International Airport Roberts International Airport , informally also known as ''Robertsfield'', is an international airport in the West African nation of Liberia. Located near the town of Harbel in Margibi County, the single runway airport is about outside of the ...

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

, the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (, ; ) was a Belgian colonial empire, Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Repu ...

and

Northern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in Southern Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. It was formed in 1911 by Amalgamation (politics), amalgamating the two earlier protectorates of Barotziland-North-Western Rhodesia and North ...

. Before the introduction of long-range jets in the mid-1970s, it was an important stopover point for the routes between Europe and South America, along with the Canary Islands. From 21 January 1976 to 31 March 1982,

Air France Air France (; legally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France, and is headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. The airline is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and is one of the founding members ...

Concorde Concorde () is a retired Anglo-French supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France and the United Kingdom signed a treaty establishin ...

s used the airport as a refueling stop between Paris and Rio de Janeiro on Wednesdays and Sundays. The airport was a

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

landing site until 1987, when it was determined that a dip in the runway could damage the shuttle upon landing. It was one of the five main hubs of the now defunct multi-national airline

Air Afrique Air Afrique was a Pan-African airline, that was mainly owned by many West African countries for most of its history. It was established as the official transnational carrier for francophone West and Central Africa, because many of these cou ...

Aeroflot PJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines (, ), commonly known as Aeroflot ( or ; , , ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. Aeroflot is headquartered in the Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow, with its hub being Sheremetyevo Interna ...

used to serve the airport from the 1970s, it flew the Moscow-Dakar route with stopovers midroute. In the 1990s, Aeroflot replaced the route with a nonstop flight from Moscow to Dakar. However, this service was terminated somewhere around 2000. Marking the end of the airline’s 3 decades-long presence in the airport. The airport has often been used as a stopover on flights between North America and Southern Africa.

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, operating nine hubs, with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being its ...

started service on 4 December 2006 between

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

and

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

, with an intermediate stop in

. This stopover has since been removed, with

now served nonstop by Delta from New York–JFK.

South African Airways South African Airways (SAA) is the flag carrier of South Africa. Founded in 1929 as Union Airways it later rebranded to South African Airways in 1934, the airline is headquartered in Airways Park at O. R. Tambo International Airport in Johannes ...

used Dakar as a stopover with both its flights from Johannesburg to Washington and New York. The stopover for the New York–JFK flight was later removed, while the Johannesburg to Washington–Dulles flight now operates via

Accra Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...

. Senegal Airlines had a hub operation and their headquarters at the airport before the company's demise in April, 2016. Construction of a replacement airport, Blaise Diagne International, inland from Léopold Sédar Senghor, began in 2007. Saudi Binladin Group constructed 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. Blaise Diagne was delayed several times and finally opened on 7 December 2017. As of March 2020 Senghor Airport serves only charter flights and scheduled cargo services, but not regular passenger flights.

Other facilities

The head office of '' Agence Nationale de l'Aviation Civile du Sénégal'' is also on the airport property. At one time Air Sénégal International had its head office on the grounds of the airport. The airport is also home to the

French Air Force The French Air and Space Force (, , ) is the air force, air and space force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the ("Aeronautical Service"), a service arm of the French Army, it became an independent military branch in 1934 as the Fr ...

'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. The airport can handle wide body jets, including in the past the Airbus A340-600 from

, and the

Boeing 777-200 The Boeing 777, commonly referred to as the Triple Seven, is an American long haul, long-range Wide-body aircraft, wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The 777 is the world's largest twinjet and the mo ...

from

. In 2015, the airport served about 1,986,000 passengers.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Since the opening of its successor in 2017, commercial operations were shifted there. However, in January 2024, Air Senegal launched flights to Saint-Louis (XLS) on Mondays and Fridays. There are plans to use Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport (DKR) as a domestic hub airport for Air Senegal with flights to the interior of the country to Kédougou (KGG), Tambacounda (TUD), and Matam (MAX) using newly acquired Czech L-410 type aircraft .

Cargo

Statistics

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 Hurricane Donna, known in Puerto Rico as Hurricane San Lorenzo, was the strongest hurricane of the 1960 Atlantic hurricane season, and caused severe damage to the Lesser Antilles, the Greater Antilles, and the East Coast of the United States, ...

. All 63 passengers and crew on board were killed. * On February 12 2000, an

Airbus A300 The Airbus A300 is Airbus' first production aircraft and the world's first Twinjet, twin-engine, double-aisle Wide-body aircraft, (wide-body) airliner. It was developed by ''Airbus Industrie GIE'', now merged into Airbus SE, and manufactured f ...

with 182 occupants from Dakar to Paris suffered an incident when the left landing gear collapsed. All 182 occupantts survived uninjured but the aircraft was written off.

References

External links

Air Base Profile
from avions-militaires.net
Profile in French
from the French Ministry of Defense
Dakar International Airport (unofficial website)
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Leopold Sedar Senghor International Airport Airports in Senegal Buildings and structures in Dakar Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces Air Transport Command on the South Atlantic Route Installations of the French Air and Space Force Almadies Arrondissement