Transair (Senegal) (R2, Dakar Blaise Diagne International) 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) (BLA, Bucharest Henri Coanda) B737-500, YR-AMD (msn 25271), recently operated a number of repatriation flights from Europe under Transair's code. The aircraft has been, in principle, wet-leased by Air Sénégal (HC, Dakar Blaise Diagne International) since December 2019 and still operates for the flag carrier, albeit intermittently on Transair-coded flights.
Fall added that Transair has so far avoided laying off any of its 108 staff but admitted that the company was unsure whether it would be able to pay their salaries in the future given zero revenue.
