After 9:45 hours, the passengers of flight OS17 on Saturday (November 2) were back where they came from. The Austrian Airlines Boeing 777 with the registration OE-LPF turned over the Red Sea on its way to Mauritius and returned to Vienna. A spokeswoman blamed this on "a failure to grant overflight permission."
AUA did not initially provide any specific information. On Monday (November 4), however, the airline was more specific. Eritrea's air traffic control did not authorize the flight into Eritrean airspace, although an overflight permit had been issued, according to a spokeswoman.