Blaise Diagne International Airport is an international airport near the town of Diass in Thiès Region, Senegal, 43 kilometres (27 mi) east of downtown Dakar. It serves as the main airport for Dakar, replacing Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport, which had become too small. It is named after Blaise Diagne, the first black African elected to France's parliament in 1914. Regular flights are operated to destinations across many parts of Africa, as well as to Europe, Macaronesia, the Middle East, and the USA.