Senegal's Transair ordered to pay COVID airport arrears

Senegal's Transair switches B737 ACMI operator

Senegal's Transair wet-leasing a B737

Transair (Senegal) (R2, Dakar Blaise Diagne Int'l) has wet-leased a B737-500 from Blue Air (Romania) (0B, Bucharest Otopeni), the Senegalese carrier has announced. Sporting the West African carrier's basic titles, YR-AMD (msn 25271) was ferried from Bucharest Baneasa to Dakar Blaise Diagne Int'l via Malaga on October 28 but has yet to enter service for its client.

Neither Transair nor Blue Air were available for comment. No schedules have been loaded for the B737 either.

Privately-owned Transair operates a fleet of four aircraft, namely one Beech 1900C, one E120 and two E145s on scheduled flights from Dakar to Ziguinchor domestically as well as Praia, Conakry, and Freetown internationally. Its internet booking engine also lists Abidjan, Brazzaville, and Libreville as future destinations.

Gambia resumes commercial passenger traffic

Several West African and European carriers have resumed commercial flights to Banjul, Gambia, after the airport reopened following a seven-month lockdown because of COVID-19.

According to the ch-aviation schedules module, Turkish Airlines (TK, Istanbul New) was the first to return on October 31 with weekly service from Istanbul New, via Dakar Blaise Diagne Int'l. Transair (Senegal) (R2, Dakar Blaise Diagne Int'l) has also resumed weekly flights from Dakar, while Air Sénégal (HC, Dakar Blaise Diagne Int'l) has returned with four flights a week scheduled as of November 1.

Togo’s ASKY Airlines (KP, Lomé) flight KP22 resumed four times weekly from Lomé, Accra, and Freetown and to Banjul on November 5. TUI Airways (BY, London Luton) has come back with weekly flights from London Gatwick and Manchester Int'l, while Spain’s Vueling Airlines (VY, Barcelona El Prat) on November 7 restarts weekly services with flight VY7574 from Barcelona El Prat.

The Gambia currently has no home-grown national...

Senegal's Transair battles to survive amid depressed demand

Transair (Senegal) (R2, Dakar Blaise Diagne Int'l) is hopeful that it will be able to survive long enough to see at least some demand return to the market but its expansion plans have now been cancelled.

"Before the pandemic, we were expanding, we were even thinking about starting inter-continental flights in a few years. Now everything's come to a halt," the Senegalese carrier's founder and chief executive, Alioune Fall, told the AFP.

The largest privately-owned carrier in Senegal, which operates one EMB-120RT(QC) and two EMB-145ERs, currently only operates technical flights necessary to maintain its aircraft's and pilots' certification. Fall underlined that Transair intends to continue doing so, despite the associated costs, as it expects demand to return eventually.

"This is why the planes are still flying. Activity will pick up, starting with minimal service," he said.

Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows that while the carrier's in-house aircraft have all been grounded since March, except for the sporadic technical flights, a Blue Air (Romania) (0B, Bucharest Otopeni) B737-500, YR-AMD (msn...