Air France (AF, Paris CDG) announced the restart of flights to Bamako on October 13, 2023, after more than two months, only to have the authorisation withdrawn shortly after. A military official told the AFP news agency the initial permit was issued "without consulting the superiors".
The French carrier suspended its services to Bamako in Mali, Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso, and Niamey in Niger after the coup d'êtat in Niger in early August 2023. Relations between all three countries - all former colonies of France - and Paris have soured after military juntas took power in each of them between 2020 and 2023. While flights to Niger remain indefinitely suspended as the authorities there have explicitly banned French aircraft from its airspace, Air France is in talks with Mali and Burkina Faso about restarting. Both of them revoked the carrier's traffic rights after the suspension, citing the harm to local passengers resulting from the cancellation of flights at short notice.
Services between Paris CDG and Bamako were due to be operated with a B777-200ER wet-leased from euroAtlantic Airways (YU, Lisbon). Air France said the decision to use third-party aircraft and crew was due to the prevailing travel advice for French citizens against visiting Mali, as well as due to the lack of spare in-house capacity to resume the route.
Corsair International (SS, Paris Orly) continues to connect Bamako with Paris Orly 4x weekly. The Malian capital does not have any other direct services to France or any other EU country.
