- Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport
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Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport
Aéroport International Léopold Sédar Senghor
IATA: DKR – ICAO: GOOY Location of Airport in Senegal
DKRSummary Airport type Public / Military Serves Dakar Location Yoff, Senegal Elevation AMSL 85 ft / 26 m Coordinates 14°44′22″N 017°29′24″W / 14.73944°N 17.49°W Website Runways Direction Length Surface m ft 18/36 3,490 11,450 Asphalt 03/21 1,500 4,921 Asphalt Statistics (2009) Passengers 1,500,000 Source: Airport website,[1] DAFIF[2][3] Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport (French: Aéroport International Léopold Sédar Senghor[1]) (IATA: DKR, ICAO: GOOY) is an international airport serving Dakar, the capital of Senegal. The airport is situated near the town of Yoff, north of Dakar. It was known as Dakar Yoff International Airport (French: Aéroport International de Dakar Yoff) until 9 October 1996,[1] when it was renamed in honor of Léopold Sédar Senghor, the first president of Senegal.
The airport can handle aircraft up to the size of the Boeing 747 jets. In 2009, the airport served about 1,500,000 passengers.[4]
In 2007, Patrick Smith, author of the Ask the Pilot column for Salon.com, called it the "World's Worst Airport", commenting that he found there "only squalor, an unnerving sense of confinement and to some extent danger".[5]
Construction on a replacement airport 45km inland from Léopold Sédar Senghor has begun. Saudi Binladin Group is constructing the new airport, named after the first black African elected to France's parliament in 1914, Blaise Diagne. It should take 30 months to build and have an initial capacity of 3 million passengers a year - almost double the 1.7 million annual traffic handled by the existing airport. [6]
Contents
History
During World War II, Dakar Airport was a key link in the United States Army Air Force Air Transport Command Natal-Dakar air route, which provided a transoceanic link between Brazil and French West Africa after 1942. Massive amounts of cargo were stored at Dakar, which were then transported along the North African Cairo-Dakar transport route for cargo, transiting aircraft and personnel. From Dakar, flights were made to Dakhla Airport, near Villa Cisneros in what was then Spanish Sahara, or to Atar Airport, depending on the load on the air route. In addition to being the western terminus of the North African route, Dakar was the northern terminus for the South African route, which transported personnel to Pretoria, South Africa, with numerous stopovers at Robertsfield (now Roberts International Airport), Liberia, the Belgian Congo and Northern Rhodesia.[7]
Before the introduction of long-range jets in the mid-70s, it used to be an important stopover point for the routes between Europe and South America, together with the Canary Islands.
The airport was a Space Shuttle landing site until 1987, when it was determined that a dip in the runway could damage the shuttle upon landing.[8]
It used to be one of the five main hubs of the now defunct multi-national airline, Air Afrique.[citation needed]
Delta Air Lines started service on December 4, 2006 between Atlanta and Johannesburg, with an intermediate stop in Dakar. This stopover has since been removed. It currently serves Dakar nonstop from New York-JFK.
Other facilities
The head office of Sénégal Airlines is located on the airport property.[9] The head office of Agence Nationale de l'Aviation Civile du Sénégal is also on the airport property.[10]
At one time Air Sénégal International had its head office on the grounds of the airport.[11]
The airport is also home to the French Air Force's Dakar-Ouakam Air Base (Base aérienne Dakar-Ouakam; also known as Air Base 160, Base aérienne 160 Dakar-Ouakam). The Dakar-Ouakam Air Base forms the military section of the airport. In 2011 ETOM 00.055 will be disbanded and BA160 may become inactive.[citation needed]
Airlines and destinations
Airlines Destinations Afriqiyah Airways Bamako, Tripoli Air Algérie Algiers Air Burkina Bamako, Ouagadougou Air Europa Madrid Air France Paris-Charles de Gaulle Air Ivoire Abidjan, Cotonou Air Mali Bamako Air Nigeria Accra, Banjul, Cotonou, Lagos Arik Air Banjul, Freetown, Lagos Brussels Airlines Brussels Camairco Douala Corsairfly Paris-Orly Delta Air Lines New York-JFK Emirates Dubai Ethiopian Airlines Abidjan, Addis Ababa, Bamako, Banjul, Lomé, Ouagadougou Iberia Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Madrid Kenya Airways Abidjan, Bamako, Nairobi Mauritania Airlines International Nouakchott Meridiana Milan-Malpensa, Rome Fiumicino, Paris Charles De Gaulle Royal Air Maroc Casablanca Sénégal Airlines Abidjan, Bamako, Banjul, Bissau, Cap Skirring, Conakry, Cotonou, Douala, Libreville, Niamey, Nouakchott, Ouagadougou, Praia, Ziguinchor South African Airways Johannesburg, Washington-Dulles TACV Banjul, Bissau, Freetown, Praia TAP Portugal Lisbon Tunisair Tunis Turkish Airlines Istanbul-Atatürk XL Airways France Paris-Orly Charter
Airlines Destinations Air Méditerranée Bordeaux, Marseille, Nantes, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Toulouse, Lyon Luxair Luxembourg Cargo airlines
Airlines Destinations Air France Cargo Emirates SkyCargo Campinas, Dubai, Frankfurt Lufthansa Cargo Buenos Aires-Ezeiza, Campinas, Frankfurt, Guadalajara Med Airlines Casablanca ULS Airlines Cargo World Airways Statistics
Annual statistics Year Total passengers Change Cargo (in tonnes) Change 2001[12] 1,279,028 23,387 2002[12] 1,358,538 +6,2% 
16,953 -38,0% 
2003[12] 1,482,726 +9,1% 17,051 +0,6% 2004[12] 1,566,573 +5,7 21,159 +24,1% 2005[12] 1,605,010 +2,5% 24,795 +17,2% 2006[13] 1,676,881 +4,5% 22,032 -12,5% 2007[14] 1,821,956 +8,7% 24,771 +12,4% 2008[4] 1,802,559 -1,1% 21,789 -13,7% 2009[4] 1,554,546 -13.8% 21,572 -1.0% References
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.- ^ a b c (French) Aéroport International Léopold Sédar Senghor, official website
- ^ Airport information for GOOY from DAFIF (effective October 2006)
- ^ Airport information for DKR at Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF (effective Oct. 2006).
- ^ a b c "Rapport de la Situation Economique et Sociale (Ed. 2009)" (in French) (pdf). Agence Nationale de la statistique et de la démographie. 6 January 2011. p. 167. http://www.ansd.sn/publications/annuelles/SES_2009.pdf. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
- ^ Smith, Patrick. "Ask the Pilot," Salon. 25 May 2007.
- ^ http://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/wade-lays-foundation-for-new-airport-1.321881
- ^ Map of worldwide routes of Air Transport Command, September 1945
- ^ "Space Shuttle Transoceanic Abort Landing (TAL) Sites: Banjul, Gambia". John F. Kennedy Space Center. http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/nasafact/talgambia.htm. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
- ^ Mentions Légales." Sénégal Airlines. Retrieved on 27 January 2011. "'GROUPE AIR SENEGAL, Société Anonyme avec conseil d’administration au capital de 16.500.000.000 FCFA, opérant sous la dénomination commerciale « SENEGAL AIRLINES », sise Aéroport Léopold Sédar SENGHOR BP 38265 – DAKAR YOFF (SENEGAL), immatriculée au RCCM de Dakar sous le n° SN DKR 2009 B 11310, NINEA 40694662G3, représentée aux fins des présentes par Edgardo BADIALI, Directeur Général."
- ^ "Accueil." Agence Nationale de l'Aviation Civile du Sénégal. Retrieved on 27 January 2011. "BP : 8184 AEROPORT LEOPOLD SEDAR SENGHOR DAKAR-YOFF"
- ^ "Directory: World Airlines." Flight International. 12–18 March 2002. 63.
- ^ a b c d e "Situation Economique et Sociale de la Région de Dakar (Édition 2005)" (in French) (pdf). Agence Nationale de la statistique et de la démographie. p. 140. http://www.ansd.sn/publications/annuelles/SES_Region/SES_Dakar_2005.pdf. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
- ^ "Situation Economique et Sociale de la Région de Dakar (Édition 2006)" (in French) (pdf). Agence Nationale de la statistique et de la démographie. October 2007. pp. 219–220. http://www.ansd.sn/publications/annuelles/SES_Region/SES_Dakar_2006.pdf. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
- ^ "Situation Economique et Sociale (Édition 2008)" (in French) (pdf). Agence Nationale de la statistique et de la démographie. November 2009. p. 148. http://www.ansd.sn/publications/annuelles/SES_2008.pdf. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
External links
- Current weather for GOOY at NOAA/NWS
- Accident history for DKR at Aviation Safety Network
- Air Base Profile from avions-militaires.net
- Profile in French from the French Ministry of Defense
- Dakar International Airport - Dakar International Airport unofficial website (english)
Airports in SenegalLéopold Sédar Senghor International · Bakel · Cap Skirring · Kaolack · Kédougou · Kolda North · Ouro Sogui · Podor · Richard Toll · Saint-Louis · Simenti · Tambacounda · Ziguinchor
Categories:- Airports in Senegal
- Buildings and structures in Dakar
- Space Shuttle landing sites
- USAAF Air Transport Command Airfields - South Atlantic Route
- French Air Force bases
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