Carriers face longer flights as Niger closes airspace
Published: 05:08 PM,Aug 07,2023 | EDITED : 09:08 PM,Aug 07,2023
LONDON/GDANSK: European carriers on Monday reported disruptions and suspended flights across the African continent after Niger’s junta closed its airspace on Sunday.
West African leaders will hold a summit on the crisis in Niger this week after the country’s military rulers defied an ultimatum to restore the elected government or face possible military intervention.
In its first official reaction since Niger ignored the deadline on Sunday to reinstate democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum, the ECOWAS regional bloc said it would meet in the Nigerian capital Abuja on Thursday.
“The ECOWAS leaders will be considering and discussing the political situation and recent developments in Niger during the summit,” the 15-nation bloc said on Monday.
No foreign troops were visible on the streets of Niger’s capital, Niamey, after the deadline came and went on Sunday.
A source close to ECOWAS said an immediate military intervention to restore Bazoum was not being envisaged at this stage.
The flight disruption adds to a band of African airspace facing geopolitical disruptions including Libya and Sudan, with some flights facing up to 1,000 kilometres in detours.
“The closure of Niger’s airspace dramatically widens the area over which most commercial flights between Europe and southern Africa cannot fly,” tracking service FlightRadar24 said in a blog post.
Air France has suspended flights to and from Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso and Bamako in Mali until August 11, the company said on Monday, with longer flight times expected in the west African region.
A spokesperson added that Air France expected longer flight times from sub-Saharan hub airports and that flights between Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris and Accra in Ghana were set to operate non-stop. But aviation analyst James Halstead said that airlines would mostly have to find alternative routes and difficulties should be limited given the small number of African air connections.
“I’m not sure this is huge disruption ... it will affect routes from Europe to Nigeria and South Africa and probably from the Gulf of the Ethiopia to West Africa,” he said.— Agencies
West African leaders will hold a summit on the crisis in Niger this week after the country’s military rulers defied an ultimatum to restore the elected government or face possible military intervention.
In its first official reaction since Niger ignored the deadline on Sunday to reinstate democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum, the ECOWAS regional bloc said it would meet in the Nigerian capital Abuja on Thursday.
“The ECOWAS leaders will be considering and discussing the political situation and recent developments in Niger during the summit,” the 15-nation bloc said on Monday.
No foreign troops were visible on the streets of Niger’s capital, Niamey, after the deadline came and went on Sunday.
A source close to ECOWAS said an immediate military intervention to restore Bazoum was not being envisaged at this stage.
The flight disruption adds to a band of African airspace facing geopolitical disruptions including Libya and Sudan, with some flights facing up to 1,000 kilometres in detours.
“The closure of Niger’s airspace dramatically widens the area over which most commercial flights between Europe and southern Africa cannot fly,” tracking service FlightRadar24 said in a blog post.
Air France has suspended flights to and from Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso and Bamako in Mali until August 11, the company said on Monday, with longer flight times expected in the west African region.
A spokesperson added that Air France expected longer flight times from sub-Saharan hub airports and that flights between Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris and Accra in Ghana were set to operate non-stop. But aviation analyst James Halstead said that airlines would mostly have to find alternative routes and difficulties should be limited given the small number of African air connections.
“I’m not sure this is huge disruption ... it will affect routes from Europe to Nigeria and South Africa and probably from the Gulf of the Ethiopia to West Africa,” he said.— Agencies