Yemenia, the operator of the aircraft that crashed into the Indian Ocean off the Comoros islands this week has suspended flights from Paris, a spokeswoman for Aeroports de Paris said Friday.

The spokeswoman said the airport operator had received a letter from the carrier Friday, informing it of the decision to suspend the flights.

"They didn't give a reason, they just said until further notice the flights were canceled," she said.

Yemenia, which has already suspended flights from the southern French city of Marseille, has faced furious protests from expatriate Comorans in France that its aircraft are dirty and badly maintained.

Only one survivor was found after the accident, in which an Airbus A310-300 with 153 people on board crashed into the sea as it came in to land at Moroni, the Comoran capital.

The aircraft had taken off from the Yemeni capital Sanaa, but many of the passengers had come from France aboard an Airbus A330 which flew the Paris-Marseille-Yemen legs of the flight.

With a population of around 800,000, the formerly French-ruled Comoros archipelago comprises three islands off mainland east Africa and northwest of Madagascar. There is a large expatriate community in France.

Comorans have long complained about the standard of flights from France to the Comoros islands and groups of protesters have blockaded Yemenia check-in desks in Marseille and Paris since the accident, preventing some flights from taking off.

The airline has come under scrutiny from authorities in Europe over air safety issues.

France had banned the A310 that crashed from its territory in 2007 after faults were found with it and European Union authorities wrote to Yemenia on Wednesday saying it faced a ban in the EU unless it gave assurances over recurring problems.

Separately, the French government appointed an official as special ambassador to help the families of French victims of the crash and those who had been living in France.