• Dakar airport Q1 passengers rise 2.45% to 735,370
• Traffic boosted by AFCON; January busiest month
• Flights fall 4%, freight up 21.4%

Senegal’s Blaise Diagne International Airport handled 735,370 passengers in the first quarter of 2026, up 2.45% from a year earlier, supported by strong international traffic and major events.

January was the busiest month, with 279,091 passengers compared with 264,613 a year earlier. The Africa Cup of Nations contributed to the surge in traffic during the month.

Aircraft movements fell slightly. The number of flights reached 6,140 over the quarter, down 4% from a year earlier. Some observers attribute the decline, a trend seen since last year, to network restructuring by Air Senegal, which is based at the airport and has suspended several loss-making routes.

Air freight rose 21.4% to 11,700 metric tons.

For full-year 2025, passenger traffic reached 2.94 million, including 1.3 million arrivals and 1.4 million departures. Growth was driven mainly by traffic with Europe and North Africa, which rose 5.46% and 2.2%, respectively. Traffic with North America increased 5.55%, while intra-West African traffic fell 2.65%.

Henoc Dossa