Air Senegal has locked in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for eight Airbus A220 aircraft at the 2019 Dubai Air Show. They are expected to receive two aircraft per year from 2021 and will fly them to cities like Lagos, London, and Geneva.
What are the details of the order?
With this Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for eight aircraft, Airbus has managed to make the Airbus A220 even more popular on the world stage.
Air Senegal locked in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for eight of the bigger A220-300 type to be delivered from the end of next year. They are expecting two a year to be delivered from Northern America to the west coast of Northern Africa.
The aircraft type attracted the national carrier because of its flexibility and reliability (apart from engine issues that have been plaguing those CS100/300 aircraft in Europe), allowing the carrier to fly to London, Geneva, as well as to nearby Largos.
Mr. Ibrahima Kane, Air Senegal’s CEO said,
“These new 220 aircraft will contribute to developing our long-haul network to Europe and our regional network in Africa. Combined with our recent A330neo aircraft, this new Airbus fleet reveals Air Senegal’s ambition to offer the best travel experience for our passengers.”
“The number of A220s operation on the African continent is steadily growing and we are proud to add Senegal’s new flag carrier in our list of A220 African customers. Offering the lowest operating costs in its category, the A220 is the best aircraft for airlines to launch new domestic and international routes efficiently,” said Christian Scherer Chief Commercial officer Airbus in the Airbus press release.
Who is Air Senegal?
Air Senegal, the flag carrier from the nation of the Republic of Senegal (hence the name). Created in 2016, it is state-owned through an investment arm and is based at Blaise Diagne International Airport in Dakar, Senegal.
They are a young airline, founded in 2016 and fly to only 13 destinations with six aircraft, with a short-haul fleet of two A319s and two ATR-72-600s. But don’t think they are not contenders for the big leagues, they currently have one A330-900neo and another on the way allowing them to fly long haul routes to Paris and Barcelona (and maybe planning routes to America shortly!). This has even led to the belief that the airline is on track to be one of the most powerful African airlines in years to come.
They also operated the famous Hi Fly A380 in recent months as they required to fill in for their aircraft, the a330neo that had to be grounded due to technical problems.
What do you think of this order? Will you be flying on their new A220s next year? Let us know in the comments
