Niger’s airspace closure is causing significant disruption to British Airways’ London-Johannesburg-London services. According to FlightRadar24.com, since August 7, over half of the flag carrier’s return flights from Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International Airport (JNB) to London Heathrow Airport (LHR) have faced prolonged delays, including a Sunday “flight to nowhere,” following Niger’s sudden shuttering to international air traffic.
As reported by The Independent, passengers onboard BA56’s Tuesday evening service were disembarked after waiting onboard for two hours, being required to return through passport control. Speaking to the newspaper, a passenger noted the jet appeared ready to depart on time; however, a crew shortage left them stranded at the South African hub overnight.
“Over the next two hours there was no news, no food or drinks – apart from one glass of water offered. To compound it all – sitting opposite me, a mum and her very tired son who had been on that turned-around flight, so by now had spent 13 hours on two BA planes to nowhere.”
British Airways accommodated its delayed passengers at a hotel overnight, with the flight finally arriving at Heathrow 31 hours behind schedule. In a statement provided to Bloomberg, British Airways apologized for the impact of the disruption on its passengers.
“We’ve apologised to those customers affected for the disruption to their journey. Our teams are working hard to get them on their way again as quickly as possible.”
Also operating the Heathrow to Johannesburg route, Virgin Atlantic has noted some disruption, diverting to Lagos’ Murtala Muhammed International Airport (LOS) on Sunday evening before continuing to Heathrow early on Monday morning. Subsequent services throughout the week have remained relatively unaffected, departing with a less than 15-minute delay.
Niger’s military junta announced it would be shutting its airspace to international flights on Sunday evening amid warnings of an unnamed “foreign power” planning an attack. Several services, including British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, were forced to divert, while some airlines were able to reroute through the airspace in Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo, and Mali. All flights to Niger’s Niamey Diori Hamani International Airport (NIM) have been canceled.
Airspace closures through Niger, Libya, and Sunday are expected to cause significant adjustments to airline routings. In a statement provided to Reuters, a spokesperson for German flag carrier Lufthansa and Belgian subsidiary Brussels Airlines cautioned that flight times could increase by up to three and a half hours.
Air France services to Thomas Sankara International Airport Ouagadougou (OUA) in Burkina Faso and Modibo Keita International Airport (BKO) in Bamako, Mali, have been suspended until August 11, with the airline warning that fight times to Western and Sub-Saharan Africa will be longer. The suspension will not affect flights between Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) and Accra’s Kotoka International Airport (ACC) which are set to continue operating non-stop.
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