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A simple way to exclusion
Every summer, thousands of Senegalese families in France are preparing, with emotion, for this symbolic journey: return home to find their own, to re-establish the family bond, and to transmit to children born in Europe a living fragment of their identity.
But in recent years, this dream has become a fighter's journey. The Paris–Dakar ticket price now flirts with the 1 000 to 1 500 euros per person in high season. For a family of six, the bill is close to a Senegalese average annual salary. As a result, families resign, grandparents age far from their own, and "return home" is transformed into expensive myth.
Structural cost, not accidental
This increase is no coincidence.
The Paris-Dakar route has become one of the most expensive in West Africa at an equivalent distance.
The reason?
One limited offer1 almost non-existent competition and airport charges among the highest on the continent.
Only three companies share the line: Air France, Air Senegal and Royal Air Maroc (via Casablanca). The absence of real alternatives allows carriers to maintain high fares, especially during seasonal peaks.
To this is added the cost of fuel, the rising solidarity taxes in Franceand the Operating expenses in Africa, often higher than in Europe.
This combination produces a mechanical effect: less offer = more expensive tickets = private diaspora of mobility.
A golden line for Air France: the Paris–Dakar, African sky milk cow
Theft Paris–Dakar for years one of the Most profitable roads the long-haul network of Air France. With a filling rate close to 100 % on the majority of peak periods, the French national company benefits from a exceptional yield on this corridor. The aircraft take off full, often several weeks in advance, and the few available places fly at last minute higher fares.
This profitability is not only based on the strong demand of the Senegalese diaspora; it also relies on a auxiliary revenue strategy particularly effective:
- Mandatory payment for seat selection, even in the economy class, which sometimes adds up to 50 € per passenger.
- Baggage surcharge : a simple overrun of 2 kg can cost between 70 € and 150 €without any commercial tolerance.
- Dynamic pricing (yield management): as soon as the lowest tariff classes are exhausted, the price rises mechanically from 20 to 30% per tier.
Thus, beyond the main ticket, Air France makes on this line substantial ancillary revenue, which sometimes represent up to 20% of total income per flight.
In other words, every Paris–Dakar plane, full of cracks, is a flying profit centre, generating a net return above the global average Company.
This situation illustrates the market imbalance : for lack of real competition, a company may capitalize on emotional and geographical dependency Diaspora.
It is precisely to correct this distortion that a opening of the African sky Only competition can restore socially acceptable prices and put an end to a commercial rent fuelled by the attachment of a people to its original land.
The human and economic cost of distance
This price is not only a question of comfort, it is a question of social link and national economy.
The remittances from Senegalese emigrants represent over 11% of national GDPa vital contribution greater than official development assistance. But some of these resources are now going... into airlines' pockets.
Every euro spent on a non-priced banknote is one euro less for local investment, education, health, or family construction.
The consequence?
- Fewer returns, so less local expenditure.
- Less family interaction, so weakening cultural and emotional ties.
- Fewer projects, so slowdown in economic contribution Diaspora.
Africa, last continent with closed skies
The heart of the problem is this: Africa hasn't opened its sky yet.
In the 1990s, the European Union has been building a Single air transport market promoting competition and the emergence of low cost companies, the majority of African countries remain prisoners ofrigid bilateral agreements and outdated national protections.
The Single African Air Transport Market (MUTAA), launched by the African Union in 2018, remains a beautiful promise that remains a dead letter.
Too few States have agreed to liberalize their traffic rights,harmonising taxesor allow low cost carriers to implant sustainably.
Result: on comparable routes, a Paris–Marrakech or Paris–Lisbonne ticket costs two to three times cheaper than a Paris–Dakar.
Opening the African sky: a strategic necessity
Senegal, by its geographical location and the modernity of its Blaise-Diagne airport, could become a West Africa competitive air hub.
But this implies that paradigm change : opening the sky to competition, in particular low cost companies and international, while protecting national security and sovereignty.
Expected benefits:
- Lower tariffs 30-40% over 3 years.
- Increase in passenger traffic 50 per cent in the medium term.
- Growth in tourism, employment and local tax revenues.
- Facilitation of economic and cultural exchanges in the subregion.
- Strengthening the link with the diasporawhich would become a mobile and present actor again.
The conditions for a controlled opening
The opening of the sky does not mean total deregulation.
It is a question of framed opening, equitable and progressive, based on four pillars:
- Modernized bilateral agreements→ Insert seasonal "open sky" clauses in France-Senegal and ECOWAS agreements allowing new carriers to operate on peak demand (summer, end of year).
- Home of African and European low cost companies→ Ryanair, EasyJet, Vueling, Air Arabia or other regional operators could provide direct Paris–Dakar flights at low prices, as they already do to Morocco or Tunisia.
- Targeted reduction in taxes and charges→ Putting in place a temporary reduction airport charges on diaspora flights, subject to an effective reduction in fares at the ticket office.
- Strengthening of Air Senegal, not in protection but in partnership→ Instead of closing the market, Air Senegal must open to shared codes, to alliances and hybrid models (mix between regular and low cost) to capture the flow without blocking it.
Governments must act
The Senegalese government has powerful levers to reverse the trend:
- Stimulating competition on the Paris–Dakar line by temporary authorizations to new entrants.
- Negotiating with the European Union to include Senegal in a open sky frame similar to Morocco.
- Establish an air transport observatory responsible for monitoring rates, taxes and quality of service.
- Dialogue with the diaspora to collect complaints and adapt tariff policy to social realities.
A stake of popular sovereignty
The opening of the African sky is not a gift to foreign companies, it is a act of popular sovereignty.
That is to say that mobility is not a privilege reserved for an elite, but rather a privilege. legitimate right of African citizens and their children to move freely between the two shores.
Africa cannot aspire to economic and cultural unity if it remains Partitioned in its air.
The diaspora, an economic pillar of the continent, deserves public policies commensurate with its contribution.
Conclusion – "A ticket for Senegal, not for silence"
To prevent a mother from seeing her parents, a father to take her children to the land of their ancestors, is Breaking the vital bond which unites the diaspora with its homeland.
Opening the African sky is Making Africa accessible to its own children.
It is to enable millions of families to maintain this invisible thread that connects Paris to Dakar, the Seine to the Corniche, the French suburbs to the streets of Pikine or Saint-Louis.
The plane ticket must no longer be a border.
Senegal must open its sky, so that the dream of return remains a right, not a luxury.
