Air Sénégal makes last-minute change to new US route

In a last-minute schedule change, Air Sénégal (HC, Dakar Blaise Diagne Int’l) has announced it will be flying to Baltimore Thurgood Marshall instead of Washington Dulles when it launches its first US service from Dakar Blaise Diagne Int’l on September 2.

No reason was given for the switch after the carrier in May had announced it would be heading to Dulles. Flights would, however, continue to route via New York JFK as originally planned.

In a statement, the airline confirmed its new US services would operate twice-weekly (Thursdays and Sundays) using an A330-900N. The 290-seater aircraft will be configured with 32 seats in business class, 21 in premium economy, and 237 in economy class. It has two of the type in the fleet, according to ch-aviation fleets advanced data.

Flight HC407 will depart Dakar at 0130L (0130Z) to arrive at JFK Terminal One (T1) at 0600L (1000Z), departing again at 0830L (1230Z) to arrive at Washington/Baltimore at 1000L (1400Z). On return, Flight HC408 will leave Washington/Baltimore at 2025L (2425Z) to arrive at JFK (T1) at 2155L (0155Z), departing again at 2355L (0355Z) to arrive back in Dakar at 1225+1L (1225+1Z).

The airline was also hoping to carry up to 12 tonnes of cargo per flight out of the US.

Aside from this first North American service, state-owned Air Senegal also serves 13 countries throughout West and Central Africa, as well as Spain, France, and Italy in Europe.