There was a coup in Niger two weeks ago. The new government has closed the country’s airspace – not just for arrivals and departures, but also for overflight – out of a fear of invasion with the Economic Community of West African States seeking to overturn the takeover.
This locks the nation’s citizens in as well. In addition to intra-Africa flying, Turkish Airlines and Air France serve the country.
Here’s the NOTAM:
A0990/23 NOTAMN Q) DRRR/QARLC/IV/NBO/E/000/999/1650N00239E999 A) DRRR B) 2308062222 C) 2308072359 EST E) THE NIGER REPUBLIC AIRSAPCE FROM GROUND TO ILL, INCLUDING ALL ATS ROUTES, IS CLOSED FOR ALL FLIGHTS.
FlightRadar24 explains,
DRRR is the Niamey Flight Information Region or area of airspace for which the country has air traffic control responsibility. Though in Niger’s case the FIR boundary does not match the country’s political boundary. Some of Niger is within the Ndjamena FIR, while the Niamey FIR also includes a large portion of Mali and all of Burkina Faso. This particular NOTAM only applies to the political boundaries of Niger and not the entirety of the Niamey FIR.
A number of European flights to Africa have had to return to origin or divert, because they’d taken off without sufficient fuel to route around Niger’s airspace. Libya and Sudan have similarly banned airline from overflying. This creates a situation where some airlines are limited to ETOPS operations – usually limited to long overwater flights – due to lack of diversion opportunities. Additional flying in many cases is a minimum of over 600 miles.
British Airways flight 56 from London Heathrow to Johannesburg flew ten and a half hours, returning back to Heathrow on Sunday. It had already crossed into Chad when Niger’s airspace closed. BA’s Cape Town to London Heathrow flight diverted to Lagos, Nigeria in order to gas up. Lufthansa’s Johannesburg to Frankfurt flight did the same.
Now watch what happens if the Wagner Group gains real control in this country, as they have in several nearby parts of Africa that they are looting. Should they form some sort of alliances with the radical groups in this region that would be very bad news for everybody. Western attempts to control and stop the extremists have been expensive failures in whack-a-mole, as one is dealing with resource rich areas that have some of the lowest living standards (and highest birth and death rates) in the world. This is not a recipe for long term stability.
Libya has not banned overflight, but most airlines (and their insurers) are choosing to avoid overflight of that region for obvious reasons.
AF990 JNB-CDG diverted to ABJ and arrived in Paris about five hours behind schedule.
AF995 CDG-JNB did not divert, and flew to the west of Niger, but arrived about 90 minutes behind schedule (but it did also appear to leave CDG late).
AF754 CDG-BZV flew over Niger, but this was a daytime flight so probably occurred prior to the airspace being closed. The return flights flew around Niger without having to divert.
Looking at other countries that could have potentially been impacted, I do not really see any other disruptions.
@drrichard, The Wagner Group is effectively gaining military control of West Africa for Russia. I think the West has been awfully quiet about it. I wonder for how long.
In that part of the world, it seems to be pretty much, if you have an Atlantic Coast you’re still OK, of not you’re Wagner (i.e., Russian) property.
@drrichard Wagner group?? lol
China is the real danger in Africa, other than the Africans themselves.
Typical colonialist mentality – always blame the victims and/or the wrong party! Airspace is closed in anticipation of an invasion by armies of neighboring western lackies. Colonialism in Africa by European/Western powers is nothing new – it has been going on for centuries and thus the current revolutions.
The looting (uranium, gold, and other resources) is currently done by the multinationals (French and others) that are giving Niger 4% of their uranium market profits. The multinational is 90% owned by the French state which gets 15% of its uranium from Niger. The July 28 military coup might be emboldened by Wagner, but their interests are strictly nationalistic.
Is this Ignorance or colonialist mindset? Looting is ongoing with the French. Many coups that destabilized the region were initiated by France including recent chaos in Libya that spiraled into the region. There’s no Wagner simpatizer more than there’s a need for partners that will help get away
from France.