The President of Senegal Macky Sall has courted Turkish Airlines (TK, Istanbul Airport) as a possible strategic investor for struggling national carrier Senegal Airlines (Dakar Yoff-Léopold Sédar Senghor International).
Government sources who spoke to the Seneweb newswire said during this month's G20 Summit in Antalya, Sall reportedly offered the Turks control of the airline in return for their absorbing the airline's debt which stands at around XOF60 billion (USD97.2 milion).
While the exact size of the shareholding on offer was not disclosed, sources said the Senegalese government and various local investors would hold a minority stake in the airline.
As part of the deal, Sall also requested the Turks to avail aircraft to Senegal Airlines which currently has no aircraft of its own. As reported by ch-aviation, with the return of A320-200 6V-AJA (cn 76) to South African lessor Global Aviation Operations (GE, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) last month, the Senegalese national carrier has been wet-leasing an E120 from Transair (Senegal) (R2, Dakar Blaise Diagne International) to service a reduced network now limited to Cap Skirring and Ziguinchor locally and Bissau, Conakry, and Praia regionally.
For the past twelve months, Dakar has been scouting for potential partners with pitches made to Royal Air Maroc (AT, Casablanca Mohamed V), South African Airways (SA, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo), Afriqiyah Airways (8U, Tripoli Mitiga), Ethiopian Airlines (ET, Addis Ababa International), and Air France (AF, Paris CDG). Despite Senegal Airlines difficulties, government believes it to be a lucrative investment for outside capital given the carrier's access to lucrative, yet underexploited, traffic rights both regionally and internationally.
Senegal Airlines was founded in 2009 following the collapse of the bankrupt Air Sénégal International (Dakar Yoff-Léopold Sédar Senghor International).
