With the suspension ofAigle AzurA particularly important route for the French market has suddenly been deprived of a third of its seat capacity: the route between France and theAlgeria. According to annual statistics from DGACtraffic between the two countries accounted for 4,555,767 passengers in 2018This represents a decrease of 4.1% compared with 2017, or 4.8 million passengers. For the first seven months of the year, the DGAC again reported a 2.4% drop in passenger traffic, with 2.5 million passengers. This mediocre performance is due in particular to thepolitical instability which has been shaking the country since last December, with repercussions on the movement of travellers.
However, the France-Algeria route is the second largest source of passenger traffic between France and Africa, just behind the France-Morocco route, which accounts for more than 6.2 million passengers, and well ahead of the France-Tunisia route with 3.2 million passengers. Nearlysome sixty daily flights link a dozen French towns to an equivalent number in Algeria.
Admittedly, this route is dominated by VFR (Visit Friends and Relatives) traffic. But the economic relations between France and Algeria have regained momentum in recent years, and it is likely that 20% of the total number of passengers between the two countries is generated by business travellers.
Until the disappearance ofAigle AzurFive carriers shared the route. Air Algérie and Tassili Airlines for Algeria; Aigle Azur, Air France and ASL for France. However, the dominant player remains the national carrier Air Algérie. Last year, the national carrier had a market share of 58.3% equivalent to 2.65 million passengers. By summer 2019, Air Algérie was serving ten French towns from ten Algerian destinations with 50 airlines.
On the Paris-Alger route alone, Air Algérie offered nine daily frequencies to Roissy and Orly during the summer. The airline also has a strong presence at Lyon and MarseilleThe two regional cities each have flights to ten destinations in Algeria. Aigle Azur was the second largest carrier, with over one million passengers a year flying between France and Algeria. This spring, the airline offered around fifteen routes from five French cities (Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Mulhouse/Bale and Toulouse) to six Algerian cities (Algiers, Béjaïa, Constantine, Oran, Sétif and Tlemcen). Out of a programme of 300 weekly flights, a third were on the France-Algeria route.
The presence of the other three airlines on the France-Algeria route remains relatively modest. Air France only serves Algiers and Oran from Paris CDG, offering up to six daily flights to the two cities. ASL - which had signed a cooperation agreement with Aigle Azur - serves the Paris CDG-Alger route three to five times a week, while Tassili Airlines offers flights from Paris CDG to Algiers. Nantes and Strasbourg to Algiers, Constantine and Oran.
The disappearance of Aigle Azur should leave the field open to the competition, particularly Air Algérie. The latter has already announced the launch at the end of October of a new Lille-Constantine route with two weekly frequencies and has temporarily taken over the Basel/Mulhouse-Alger route, previously operated by Aigle Azur.
As for Air France, its withdrawal from the Aigle Azur dossier - justified by a much more complex financial and social situation than initially envisaged - could still result in the allocation of Aigle Azur frequencies, including certain routes to Algeria, in the event of its total liquidation.
However, there are still four takeover bids in the running, including the return to the game of the Philippe Micouleau-Lionel Guérin tandem, which was favoured by the Aigle Azur unions and which undertook to take over all the company's assets with a State loan of 15 million euros. The other bids came from shareholder Gérard Houa, Spanish low-cost carrier Vueling and a private investor. The Commercial Court will rule on the Aigle Azur case in a week's time.
Links between Algeria and France :
Air Algérie :
- Algiers to Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Metz, Montpellier, Nice, Paris CDG and Orly, Toulouse
- Annaba to Lyon, Marseille, Paris CDG and Orly
- Batna to Lyon, Marseille, Paris Orly
- Bejaia to Lyon, Marseille, Paris Orly
- Biskra to Lyon, Paris CDG and Orly
- Chlef to Paris CDG and Orly
- Constantine to Lyon, Marseille, Metz, Mulhouse, Nice, Paris CDG and Orly, Toulouse
- Oran to Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Metz, Montpellier, Paris CDG and Orly, Toulouse
- Sétif to Lyon, Marseille, Paris CDG and Orly
- Tlemcen to Lyon, Marseille, Paris CDG and Orly
Air France :
- Algiers to Paris CDG
- Oran to Paris CDG
