Niger Airspace Closure Forces Airlines to Reroute African Flights via Morocco

To avoid the Nigerien airspace, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa and SWISS had to modify the routes of some flights serving Africa, passing through the Red Sea route to the east or the one to the west of Africa and Morocco, reports Air Journal. On Monday, the Air Belgium flight from Brussels to Johannesburg, as well as the Turkish Airlines flight from Lagos to Istanbul, were diverted to the west of Niger. For its part, Air France diverted flights departing from Johannesburg (South Africa) and Nairobi (Kenya) to Abidjan. Its flight from Libreville (Gabon) to its point of departure had to turn back.

In addition to this measure, the tricolor airline has suspended its flights to Niamey until further notice. "Due to the ongoing coup in Niger and the closure of the airspace and Niamey-Diori Hamani airport, Air France will no longer serve Niamey-Diori Hamani airport until further notice," an Air France spokeswoman confirmed to Reuters. It has also suspended flights to Bamako (Mali) and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) until August 11 inclusive. The company also urgently canceled flights to Paris from Lagos (Nigeria), Yaoundé (Cameroon), Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire).

"Faced with the threat of intervention, which is becoming clearer from the neighboring countries, the Nigerien airspace is closed from this Sunday (August 6, editor’s note) [...] until further notice," said a statement from the junta in power in Niger, specifying that "any attempt to violate the airspace" will result in "an energetic and immediate response".