Where is Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport situated?

The airport is situated near the suburban community of Yoff in the northern section of Dakar.

Are regular passenger services available at this airport?

Scheduled passenger routes operate from Blaise Diagne International Airport, leaving this site focused on freight and chartered flights.

What was the previous name of the airport?

The location was known as Dakar-Yoff International Airport before being renamed in honour of Léopold Sédar Senghor.

What historical operations took place at this airfield?

The site functioned as a transatlantic refuelling base for long-haul routes, a multinational airline hub, and an alternate landing site for the Space Shuttle.

Dakar · Senegal

Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport: what's nearby, how to get there and when to go · 2026

Residents in Yoff trade peace and quiet against immediate access to northern Dakar transit corridors as cargo flights rumble overhead.

About the place

Within two hours

Autonomous Port of Dakar≈ 30 min

About the place

Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport anchors northern Dakar as a dedicated freight facility after decades of handling transcontinental passenger aviation.

The airport occupies land near Yoff in the northern suburbs of the capital, carrying the name of the first president of the nation. It originated as Mullard Airfield to accommodate heavy aircraft that outgrew older landing grounds at Ouakam. During midcentury conflicts, the airfield functioned as a crucial Atlantic crossing terminal connecting South America with North Africa, storing military cargo and servicing long-range staging routes.

Read on

Before modern long-range jet liners eliminated mid-journey technical stops, the facility handled intercontinental passenger aviation. Supersonic Concorde flights refueled here while travelling between Paris and Rio de Janeiro, and the field briefly served as an emergency landing strip for the American space shuttle. Major carriers including Air Afrique, Senegal Airlines, and international operators ran scheduled intercontinental routes.

Commercial airline travel transferred inland to Blaise Diagne International Airport, fundamentally altering how the surrounding urban area functions. Léopold Sédar Senghor Airport transitioned to handling non-scheduled charter operations and international freight logistics. Today, the airfield operates primarily as a cargo terminus, relieving northern Dakar from the pressure of mass passenger terminal traffic.

Associations

Concorde StopoverServed as a scheduled refueling stop for supersonic flights to South America.
Air Cargo TerminalContinues operating regular scheduled freight handling and charter flights.
Space Shuttle Abort SiteDesignated as an emergency landing runway until surface dips were identified.
Loss of Passenger FlightsCommercial passenger services relocated inland to a larger regional facility.
Air Afrique BaseOperated as a major operational headquarters and hub for regional aviation.

Facts

The airport originally operated under the name Dakar-Yoff International Airport before being renamed after the first Senegalese president.
Supersonic Concorde airliners utilized the runway for refueling stops during transatlantic flights between Paris and Rio de Janeiro.
The facility formerly served as an emergency transatlantic landing runway for the Space Shuttle programme.
Regular commercial passenger flights moved inland to Blaise Diagne International Airport, leaving this site focused on freight and charter traffic.

Updated September 21, 2026Source: Wikipedia

Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport: what's nearby, how to get there and when to go · 2026

Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport anchors northern Dakar as a dedicated freight facility after decades of handling transcontinental passenger aviation.

Getting there and staying

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