In July, the military seized control of the government in the Central African nation of Niger, ousting the country's president. In response to the coup, ECOWAS - the political and economic union of 15 African states in Niger's vicinity, threatened military action if Niger's former president wasn't restored to power in the nation's government by a certain deadline. In response to this threat, Niger's now-in-power military made the decision to close Niger's airspace on August 6.

Prior to its closure, Nigerien airspace was transited by nearly all airlines, passengers, and cargo, flying between Central and Southern African nations (such as Nigeria and South Africa) and Europe. The reason for this is Niger's sheer size. The country - and the airspace above it - covers an area roughly 1/8th the size of the United States. 

Similar to the closure of Sudanese airspace in May 2023, which you can read about here. The closure of Niger's airspace serves as a major inconvenience for all air traffic flying North and South over Central Africa. However, unlike the Sudanese airspace situation, Nigerien airspace was frequented quite often by almost all European passenger and cargo airlines such as British Airways, Air France, and DHL among others. 

For Europe to Africa bound flights previously transiting Nigerien airspace, avoiding the nation's airspace (via diversions on routes) adds an average of one extra hour of flight time. 

While carriers such as Turkish Airlines and Air France had already begun to re-route their flights away from Niger airspace immediately following the military coup in the country in July, one airline did not follow the others in rerouting flights. Enter British Airways.

British Airways makes a U-turn over Africa and flies for 10.5 hours to nowhere.

At 19:44 local time on August 6, a British Airways A380 (G-XLEI) operating flight BA 56 lifted off from Johannesburg O.R. Tambo Int'l Airport (JNB) bound for British Airways' London Heathrow (LHR) super hub. For around 5 hours, the flight made its way North. Then, as flight 56 was just minutes away from entering Nigerien airspace, it was suddenly closed. 

This left the pilots of Flight 56 with quite a problem. The way the flight was routed (through Chadian airspace) made it difficult to re-route the flight around the newly closed airspace, as British Airways forbids its flights from transferring over Libyan airspace due to safety reasons. The A380-800 aircraft operating the flight couldn't divert to refuel at any nearby airport to continue on to London either, as no airport in Central Africa is equipped to handle an aircraft of such size. 

Given the circumstances and the options at hand, the pilots of flight 56 decided to make the 5-hour journey and return to Johannesburg (JNB). After a total of 10 hours and 30 minutes in the air, BA 56 landed at O.R. Tambo Int'l Airport at approximately 06:30 local time on August 7. 

British Airways A380 returns to London after 8.5 hours

On the same day of August 6, another British Airways A380-800 (G-XLEK), operating flight BA 55, departed London Heathrow (LHR) at 20:05 local time bound for Johannesburg (JNB). As was the case with the other BA flight flying JNB to LHR, this flight was also planning on transiting Nigerien airspace. 

When the pilots of flight BA 55 learned of the closed airspace ahead of them, they faced similar circumstances to the crew of the London-bound flight BA 56. After three hours of flying, the Airbus A380-800 made a U-turn over Algeria, just 30 minutes from entering Nigerien airspace, bound to return to London Heathrow (LHR). 

The A380 made its way back to London in just three hours, but the aircraft couldn't land. This was due to London Heathrow Airport's curfew, which is in effect every day from 23:00 and 04:30. While the aircraft waited for LHR to open, it circled over the English channel before landing 8 hours and 30 minutes after it took off at 04:41 local time. 

The NOTAM (notice to air missions) announcing the closure of Niger's airspace has been extended to August 8 and is scheduled to end at 23:59 UTC (01:59 WAST). It is likely that this closure will be extended. So for now, flights will have to reroute around Nigerien airspace and add possible refueling stops, which is fun for no one.