In February, the Spanish airline Vueling recovers the routes between the Alicante-Elx-Miguel Hernández airport and the Algerian cities of Oran and Algiers, which it suspended almost four years ago due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Once the health crisis was over, the company planned to restart flights between the Costa Blanca and both capitals, also linked by sea and with centuries-old historical ties with Alicante, when this was prevented by the diplomatic crisis caused by the Spanish Government recognizing Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara.
It is long-awaited news for the large Algerian colony that resides in Alicante and maintains family and business contacts that had become very difficult in recent years. It must be taken into account, for example, that natives of Algeria represent the foreign group that invests the most in real estate in the city of Alicante.
The news also opens the door to the recovery of Spanish tourism in Algeria that cannot be compared to that visiting the neighboring country of Morocco, among other things due to the higher restrictions imposed by the regime of that country, since a visa is necessary to access from Spain, but it had practically disappeared due to the lack of connections.
To assess the impact of the news, it is enough to point out that in 2019 there were 267,862 passengers who passed through the airfield with origin or destination in Algeria, the highest number in the history of that air connection, while in 2023 there were only 20,084.
Now, airlines that cover routes between Algeria and Spain are progressively strengthening their flight schedules and reopening routes between both countries. These connections were suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic and were not reopened due to the diplomatic crisis between Algeria and Spain.
The same applies to the Algerian national airline, Air Algérie, which received the green light from the Algerian authorities at the end of December 2023 to reinforce its flight schedule and reopen suspended routes to and from Spain.
It is now Vueling's turn, which has been authorized to reopen its route between the Alicante-Elx airport and those of Algiers and Oran, something that, according to the company's schedule, it will do from February 21 in the first case and the next day towards Oran. In the case of Algiers, the connection is resumed with two weekly flights, on Wednesdays and Sundays, while the route to Oran will operate once a week, on Thursdays.
These routes are added to the one that the Spanish low-cost airline has operated between Barcelona and Oran since October 2023.
Flights to Algiers are early birds: they will take off at 6:40 in the morning, returning at 7:30 on Wednesdays and 9:30 on Sundays. The flight to Oran is a night flight, departing at 8:30 p.m., with a duration of just one hour and five minutes. The return is also scheduled on Thursdays, at 9:30 p.m.
Vueling will compete on both lines with Air Algérie, which flies twice a week to Oran (Mondays and Saturdays) and once to Algiers (Wednesdays). In the past, the Spanish company connected both cities and Alicante with daily flights, a frequency that will depend in the future on occupancy and the consolidation of improved relations between both countries.
