Review of Air Sénégal flight from Dakar to Cap Skirring in Economy

To Casamance!

Hello and welcome to another Flight Report!!

This is the 2nd FR from my trip to Senegal and will cover the domestic flight from Dakar to the town of Cap Skirring in the South. Despite the town having a relatively small population, it's a popular tourist destination for European tourists, who visit the area for its beaches and resorts. It's also the gateway to the Casamance area of Senegal and the larger city of Ziguinchor. As of the making of this FR (October 2025), this is the only domestic route in Senegal with Ziguinchor airport currently closed for renovations. I'm not sure if the route to/from Cap Skirring is a temporary diversion while the larger Ziguinchor airport is closed or if it's a permanent route itself. There are buses timed to the arrival/departure of flights that shuttle passengers between Cap Skirring airport and Ziguinchor. I think there's also a ferry service between the city and Dakar, which would've been an interesting experience. 

I aim to offset all of my CO2 emissions from flights. All emissions are calculated using the ICAO Carbon Emissions Calculator and I will be funding projects approved by The Gold Standard.

Dakar Blaise Diagne International Airport (DSS)

Taking a taxi to the airport. Blaise Diagne Airport is a relatively new airport opened in 2017 and is very, very far from the city. It takes around 70-80 minutes to get from downtown to the airport and is quite expensive with a couple of tolls along the way.

Photo of the apron as we approach the terminal.

The airport's control tower.

The drop-off area.

Departures for the afternoon. I didn't even realize TUI offered direct flights from London to Dakar. Most TUI flights from Dakar involve a stop somewhere in Cape Verde.

The waiting area before check-in. There's a separate ticket check required to get to the check-in desks. 

There's a cafe and plenty of seats if you, like me, end up coming to the airport way too early. 

The check-in area. 

Check-in took around 15 minutes with 'immigration' and security taking around 10. Despite it being a domestic flight, they aren't separated from international flights (I think there's a domestic area but it's not in use). Instead, you go to the immigration officer as usual, but they don't stamp your passport or do anything. 

Here's the duty-free area. You shouldn't be able to buy duty-free on a domestic flight, but I never tried it. 

Photo of the gate with a restaurant at the end. 

View of the apron with the Air Senegal A330-900 parked at the end (I flew on her a few days ago from Paris).

Another photo of the gates. Most flights depart in the morning or evening, making the afternoon very quiet. 

Our flight will be departing from gate 201 - a bus gate. It's literally a small doorway leading to it with no signage (apart from one after duty-free). I have a feeling it was designed as a staff-only access point between the domestic gate and the international area, which explains why it's so well hidden. 

And here it is. A rather full flight to Cap Skirring today.

The Flight

Flight time to Cap Skirring will be around 40 minutes and here's our route across Senegal. 

Boarding started on time, and here's a GetJet A320 operating for Air Senegal that will head to Cotonou, Benin (COO) via Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire (ABJ)

And here's our plane: 

Some information about our plane:

Type: ATR 72-500
Registration: 6V-AMS
First flight: 28 September 2017
Age: ~8 years
Config: Y70

Photo of the cabin - the seats are really nice, which is unusual since most turboprops I've been on are some of the oldest planes with equally old seats haha.

Seatback pocket and tray table.

Legroom is incredibly good for a regional plane. I know African airlines usually have much better legroom, but this is one of the best I've seen. 

First view out of the window - I'm quite glad I got on first, I really wouldn't want to stand and queue in the sun and heat. 

Departure on time. 

View of the terminal with the TUI Boeing 737 MAX 8 pushing back for London (LGW). 

Takeoff! Bye-bye, Dakar… for now. 

Heading East into the Atlantic. 

Shortly after takeoff, the crew came around with some drinks. You can't really tell in the photo, but the tray table is slanted significantly downwards (look at the one to my right, for example). I left it here for 3 seconds just for a photo (which was terrifying) and immediately folded it back up. 

Shortly after that, we're already starting our descent into Cap Skirring. Sub 1-hour flights are incredibly short once you factor in climb and descent. 

First view of land!! Unfortunately, visibility is terrible. I have a feeling it's due to us being so close to the Sahara with all the sand as opposed to pollution (like in China). 

It's a rather interesting approach into Cap Skirring that involved a 180° turn really close to the airport. It honestly felt like a go-around with the weird angle. 

On final approach. It's so SO much greener here than in Dakar. It's crazy how different it is in such a short distance. 

Welcome to Casamance! We arrived 5 minutes late. 

Parked at the stand with a view of the terminal. 

Cap Skirring Airport (CSK)

One last photo of our plane.

There was a mini passport/entry stamp check. For some reason, they love checking entry stamps here. I must've had it checked 3 times just today (once before check-in, once during, and just now). It's especially painful for someone who's got a ton of stamps as they end up flicking through 3-4 times before I have to point it out to them haha. It doesn't help that it was stamped over 2 other stamps…

Anyway, here's the baggage reclaim room. 

There's a pretty basic toilet on the left… which is a bonus. ;)

And here we are outside. The airport is literally made of three tiny rooms, two for departures (which you'll see on my way out) and one for arrivals. There are some seats outside (which I guess serve as an overflow area in case the rooms get busy).

And here's the non-paved car park outside. There are a few taxis outside (which was lucky as my hotel didn't respond to my request for a transfer…). I guess there aren't any 'official' taxis here (you get one by contacting a driver via phone or WhatsApp). 

I'll end this FR here. A more in-depth look at CSK will come in my next FR as I fly back to Dakar - it's a pretty unique airport, even by my standards! Thanks for reading, and I'll see you there! ;)