New Development on the Decision to Increase Flights

The Ministry of Transport announced on Wednesday evening a significant increase in international flights as part of the partial reopening of the borders.

Air Algérie had received the green light to operate 108 additional flights, and the new schedule was set to start on Tuesday, March 15. The day after this announcement, the Presidency of the Republic announced the dismissal of the Minister of Transport, Aïssa Bekkaï, for "serious misconduct," casting doubt on the continuation of the new program.

Subsequently, Air Algérie announced the start of ticket sales on Friday, March 11, before deleting the press release from its official social media pages.

Algerians, especially those living abroad, feared a suspension of the new program, despite reassuring words from the representative of the Algerian community in France, Abdelwahab Yaâkoubi. Doubts, however, were not dispelled, even after he stated that Air Algérie was waiting for approval from the French Civil Aviation Authority to launch the new flights.

Recently, a new development occurred: the press release announcing the increase in flights was simply removed from the ministry's official Facebook page.

This adds further uncertainty about the continuation of the program. According to Air Algérie sources, the program is currently "frozen," and the ministry's deletion of the press release confirms this hypothesis.

Citizens remain the primary victims of these reckless and irresponsible decisions taken by the highest authorities of the state, while at the very least, an official statement should have been issued to provide legal and logical explanations for the cancellation of a decision long awaited by the public.