• Blaise Diagne airport passenger traffic rose 0.46% to 2.94m in 2025

• Growth led by Europe/North Africa routes; transit passengers fell 15.9%

• Airport near 3m capacity as flight movements and freight declined

Passenger traffic at Senegal’s Blaise Diagne International Airport edged up 0.46% in 2025 from a year earlier, with the airport handling 2.94 million passengers. This included 1.3 million arrivals and 1.4 million departures.

The increase, supported by stronger demand on routes to Europe and North Africa, followed a 0.57% decline in 2024, when traffic stood at 2.92 million.

International passengers accounted for nearly 97.7% of total traffic last year, while domestic travel made up just 2.44%. Point-to-point passengers rose 1.4%, but transit passengers fell 15.9% as Air Senegal continued to restructure its network.

Europe and North Africa led the growth, posting traffic gains of 5.46% and 2.2% respectively. Traffic on North America routes also rose by 5.55%. By contrast, passenger numbers on West Africa routes declined 2.65%.

The airport also saw a 9.73% drop in flight movements and a 9.43% fall in air freight, with cargo throughput totaling 36 million kg. Blaise Diagne is now operating close to its current capacity of 3 million passengers. An expansion plan is expected to lift capacity to 5 million, but the airport is already nearing its limits.

Henoc Dossa