Air France (AF, Paris CDG) has announced that it will reroute all of its flights to avoid overflying the Red Sea after the crew of a B777-200ER flying from Paris CDG to Antananarivo spotted a suspected missile while flying near Sudan. The carrier confirmed the sighting of a "luminous object at high altitude".

Following the incident on November 3, F-GSPZ (msn 32310) turned around, en-route over the Red Sea, and returned to Paris CDG. It flew to Antananarivo later on the same day. A service to Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta on November 3, operated by B787-9 F-HRBC (msn 38770), also returned to Paris before entering Egyptian airspace, Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows.

The suspension affects a relatively limited number of African routes operated by Air France. Services from Paris to Antananarivo, Zanzibar/Dar es Salaam, Nairobi, Mauritius, and St. Denis de la Réunion bypass the Red Sea over Saudi Arabia and Oman. Due to the closure of Sudanese and Yemeni airspace, circumventing the Red Sea causes significant delays on these routes.

Other airlines continue to fly over the Red Sea.

Sudanese airspace (except Port Sudan International) has been closed since April 2023 due to the escalation of the civil war in the country.