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Rabat – After Algeria’s national flag carrier Air Algerie announced the return of the Paris-Algiers flight on Monday, Algerians flocked to the Paris Opera office to buy tickets. Long wait times on the company’s phone lines and an unresponsive website forced customers to gather in front of the office.
Video footage depicts hundreds of people standing outside of Air Algerie’s downtown Parisien office. The disgruntled would-be travelers were met by a sign on the door that read “Our company was forced to close its Opera agency until further notice.”
Algeria closed its borders on March 17, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite limited domestic travel resuming in December 2020, many Algerians were stranded abroad due to the closures.
“It’s been two years since I’ve seen my family, my children,” said an Algerian woman in an interview with France 24.
The new Paris-Algiers line will run three times a week, although the airline noted that the 6,420 available tickets for June are sold out.
After nearly 15 months, the Algerian diaspora of France continues to feel abandoned by their government as they are left stranded abroad with little recourse.
Many Algerians protested the lackluster response from their government surrounding the border chaos in front of the Algerian Embassy on Monday.
“Are you talking about the allowance of flights or theft?” read one protestor’s sign in a brazen play on words in French.
The Algerian government has yet to respond to the public call for a solution on the haphazard border reopening.
The US Embassy in Algiers released a statement on June 2 outlining the new COVID-19 border measures.
According to the US embassy ,“all land borders remain closed and the suspension of non-cargo international air and maritime travel remains in place.” The Paris-Algiers flight was an attempt by the government to repatriate its citizens but many Algerians are urging the government to provide more assistance.
