Air France simply told AFP that it “did not fly over Niger’s airspace”. (Representative)
Niamey:
Niger’s military rulers have banned “French aircraft” from flying over the country’s airspace, according to the website of the Aviation Safety Agency in Africa and Madagascar (ASECNA).
Niger’s airspace is “open to all national and international commercial flights, with the exception of French aircraft or aircraft chartered by France, including those of the airline Air France,” the statement said late on Saturday.
The airspace would remain closed to “all military, operational and other special flights” unless prior authorization was granted, the message said.
Air France simply told AFP that it “did not fly over Niger’s airspace”.
Niger had reopened its airspace to commercial flights on September 4, after being closed for almost a month.
The West African country subsequently announced on August 6 that it would close its airspace due to the “threat of intervention from neighboring countries”, as the Economic Community of West African States threatened military action to overthrow elected President Mohamed Bazoum, who is in an attempt had been overthrown, to restore it. coup on July 26.
France has repeatedly backed the West African bloc and relations between Paris and Niamey have been at a low point since the coup.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
