Low-cost airline Volotea is said to be ready to launch several routes between France and Algeria – as soon as the latter’s borders reopen, after more than ten months of closure linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Disappointed at the end of 2019 during the redistribution by the COHOR (Association for the coordination of timetables) of the flight slots of the late Aigle Azur at Paris-Orly (while it requested 2 daily flights to Algiers and Oran and 1 daily flight to Bejaia, Constantine, Sétif and Tlemcen airports), the Spanish specialist in cheap flights has not abandoned its strategy.
According to Visa-Algeria, Volotea hopes to launch new routes for the next summer season, departing from three French airports in the region: Lyon-Saint Exupéry would be linked to Sétif (a line allocated last February), Bordeaux-Mérignac to Algiers, and especially Marseille-Provence in Béjaïa, Annaba, Constantine, Oran, Sétif and Tlemcen.
Algeria will then become the second Maghreb country served by Volotea, after Morocco where it still offers Nantes – Tangier inaugurated in April 2019. But only when Algeria will reopen its borders to regular international flights, no date having to this day has been brought forward.
COHOR announced last week the new slot allocations, inherited from the bankruptcies of Eagle Azur and XL Airways, on a total of 25 routes between France and Algeria. Other winners include ASL Airlines France (Lyon – Algiers, Lille Alger and Oran), Transavia France (Lyon – Bejaïa, Constantine and Oran) and Air France (Nice – Algiers, Toulouse – Algiers and Oran).
