Aéroport Dakar Blaise Diagne: Best Regional Aviation Hub West Africa 2019

Aéroport Dakar Blaise Diagne opened in December 2017, with the hope of becoming the principal air hub in West Africa. Five times larger than its predecessor, it has a capacity to handle three million passengers and the ambition to build two more terminals and another runway – to increase the capacity to five million travellers per annum by 2022 and ten million by 2035. Such was the success of its first year of operations, it exceeded projections twofold to attain a growth rate of 8.5 percent. This means that the debt incurred by the Government to finance this colossal infrastructure undertaking will have been repaid in its entirety before its maturity – which is impressive by any standards. The major part of this success story is attributable to the airport´s ability to attract airlines, from major international players such as Air France, Delta, and Iberia to new carriers from neighbouring countries, such as RwandAir, Camair-Co and Air Peace. The airport boasts many innovations and has grand aspirations for the future: it plans to construct a sustainable Aero City with a solar centre powering all on-site installations. It envisages becoming a green lung offsetting its carbon footprint. Above all, the company aims to make the passenger experience a pleasant one, where the time spent at the airport is enjoyable and not stressful. Given all these factors, the CFI.co judging panel has no hesitation in naming Aéroport Dakar Blaise Diagne as the Best Regional Aviation Hub in West Africa 2019.