Air Senegal cancels A220-leases

According to Italian aviation news site ItaliaVola, Air Senegal has decided to cancel its lease-agreement with Macquarie AirFinance for five Airbus A220-300s. The reason for the cancellation is the continuous grounding of its single A220 and the late delivery of two new A220-300s, which were scheduled to occur in December last year. The late delivery and grounding of its single aircraft of the type is due to issues with the Pratt & Whitney PW1100 Geard Turbo Fan-engines.

Although issues with the engines have been resolved according to Pratt & Whitney, supply chain restraints prevent a quick upgrade to already produced engines. Air Senegal is not the only customer impacted by these engine issues. KLM cityhopper, for instance, has seven of its fifteen Embraer E195-E2s grounded, which use the same type of engines as the Airbus.

Air Senegal took delivery of its first, and now most likely, A220-300 on 27 December 2021. Now, the aircraft, registered 6V-AOA (55089), has been parked at the airline's base at Dakar since 19 November of last year.

The airline is now considering its options and is actively considering the Embraer E195-E2, although is wary of this option due to the similar engines, as well as that it has less range than the A220-300.

Air Senegal has a fleet, next to its single A220, consisting of two ATR72-600s, two A319s, two A321s (both parked), and two A330-900s.

Photo by Air Senegal.