France resumes flights to repatriate citizens from Algeria

Air France yesterday announced a resumption of its flights departing from Algeria to repatriate stranded French citizens.

“As of Monday 11 May, Air France will operate one daily flight from Algiers to repatriate stranded French nationals amid the novel coronavirus outbreak,” the company said in statement, according to Anadolu Agency.

The state-owned carrier explained that decision was made after “a large number of booking requests were received from customers,” adding that the company had “temporarily suspended phone reservations”.

The statement pointed out that a “new e-booking system will be launched soon”, without giving any further details.

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Local media recently reported that thousands of French nationals had been stranded in Algeria since the suspension of air navigation which started on 19 March, as part of the Algerian government’s measure to curb the spread of the coronavirus. They were reported to “mostly [be] Algerians holding the French citizenship.”

On Monday, France lifted a nationwide curfew, as part of a gradual plan to ease anti-coronavirus measures.

The Algerian government earlier announced that the “nationwide quarantine imposed in Algeria will end on 14 May.”

According to official figures, there are 5,891 coronavirus cases in Algeria, including 507 deaths.

So far, a total of 4.17 million people have contracted the virus globally, 285,445 of whom have died as a result, according to the US’ Worldometers. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the disease a pandemic.