Air France has suspended flight paths over Red Sea area as a precautionary measure "until further notice" after cabin crew reported seeing a "luminous object" while flying over Sudan.
In a statement released on Sunday, Air France confirmed "as a precautionary measure, it has decided to suspend overflight of the Red Sea area until further notice."
"This decision follows the observation by a crew of a luminous object at high altitude in the Sudan area," it added.
The French national carrier said that the itinerary of some of its flights had been changed and that some aircraft had turned around and returned to land at their departure airport.
Flights between Paris and the Indian Ocean territories of Reunion Island and Mauritius reportedly operated as normal, having their itinerary changed and extending their flight time, the French airline said.
However, two flights that had taken off to Kenya and Madagascar returned to Paris.
The airline has said they will depart again "as soon as possible".
Red Sea 'highly unstable"
Air France has pointed out that the safety of its customers and crews "is its absolute imperative" and that it constantly monitors developments in the geopolitical situation of the territories served and overflown by its aircraft "in order to ensure the highest level of flight safety".
Air France is the only airline to have taken this precautionary measure, although the airspace over the region has not been closed.
The Red Sea has been highly unstable since November 2023, as the Houthi rebel group – who control large swathes of Yemen – have carried out missile and drone attacks against ships they believe to be linked to Israel.
The Iran-backed Houthis maintain they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which has been in the grip of a deadly war between Hamas and the Israeli army since 7 October 2023.
Israel hits Iranian military sites in retaliatory strike amid escalating tensions
Attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden have severely disrupted maritime traffic in this key waterway for world trade.
In a separate incident last month, Air France said it had launched an inquiry into how a jet on a Paris-Dubai flight went over Iraq as Iranian missiles taking part in an attack on Israel went through the same airspace on 1 October.
Iran said it launched 200 missiles at Israel, following the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, on 27 September by an Israeli missile in Beirut.
The LCI television channel, which first reported the incident, said the pilots saw the missiles in the night sky from their cockpit and that Iraqi air traffic control had wished them "good luck."
The airline did not confirm whether the pilots had seen the missiles, which fly at an altitude generally higher than that of commercial airliners.
