The military leaders of Niger’s coup have closed the country’s airspace, citing the possibility of military intervention from neighboring states. Flights already in the air when the airspace closed were rerouted or diverted. While the initial NOTAM is scheduled to end on 7 Aug at 23:59 UTC, there is a high likelihood of extension.
Niger’s NOTAM
NOTAMs or Notice to Air Missions are published official warnings for airspace and airport issues. They can range from alerts about construction at a certain airport to total airspace closures. The following text is the NOTAM issued by Niger:
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.
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.
Why is Niger important for flight routes?
The closure of Niger’s airspace dramatically widens the area over which most commercial flights between Europe and southern Africa cannot fly. Flights must already take a detour of sorts around Libya and Sudan.
Sudan’s current ban on flights went into effect in late July, but the airspace has been effectively closed since mid-April 2023 when two factions of the country’s military government escalated to armed conflict. Multiple European countries, including Germany, France, and the UK, as well as the US and Canada, prohibit their civil aircraft from operating in Libyan airspace (the Tripoli FIR).
With Niger’s airspace now off limits as well, airlines flying between Europe and southern Africa will need to reroute and add 1000 or more extra kilometers to their flights, increasing the amount of fuel each flight will need and the flight time.
