BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Brussels Airlines, a Belgian subsidiary of Lufthansa (LHAG.DE), has temporarily stopped flying to Angola after Niger’s junta closed its airspace on Sunday, a spokesperson for the airline said on Friday.
The airline flew to Angola two times a week through a triangle flight that connected Brussels to Congo’s Kinshasa and Angola’s Luanda.
The triangle flight will now be a direct flight between Brussels and Kinshasa to save fuel and shorten the flight time for crew members as well as passengers.
The closed Niger airspace has forced airlines to take detours, with Brussels Airlines previously stating that this means an extra one and a half to three and a half hours for rerouted flights to the African continent.
The measure, which will be evaluated every week and will last until at least Aug. 26, affects about 30 of the 290 passengers per flight, Brussels Airlines said in an email.
It added that affected passengers will be offered an alternative flight to Luanda through Lufthansa and Frankfurt Airport.
(Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout, Editing by Louise Heavens)