2023-08-09 21:23:00
Reserved for subscribers
The ban on the sky by Niamey blocks service to the country but also requires carriers to reorganize their networks in a large part of Africa.
By Thierry Vigoureux Beyond extended flight times and increased flight costs, the closure of Niger’s airspace quite simply means that half of the skies of the Sahel have to be bypassed. Here, the course of the Niger River seen from the air. © HENRI TABARANT / ONLY WORLD / Only France via AFP Published on 08/09/2023 at 9:23 p.m.
Niger alone controls a central area of the continent and has just banned all overflights since Sunday. After the putsch on July 26, the closure was decreed. Commercial traffic was reauthorized on August 2, particularly with the five neighboring countries. This also made it possible to carry out evacuation operations for Western nationals. With the fear of a conflict with ECOWAS, Niger’s airspace has been closed again since August 6.
Half of the Sahelian sky to circumvent
In practice, this results in the refusal by air traffic control of flight plans to or above Niger. If a plane, before entering the airspace and flying over Niger, contacts the regional control center in Niamey by radio, it will be turned back. In p…
I subscribe
#puzzle #manage #closure #airspace