Aigle Azur Files For Bankruptcy, Abandons Its Customers At Airports

French Airlines company “Aigle Azur” has announced the definitive suspension if all its flight operations as of Saturday, September 7, due to bankruptcy, while Air Algérie has set up a crisis cell since the end of last week to take care of passengers who were abandoned by the French company at the airports after the suspension of Aigle Azur flights between France and Algeria and even from Algeria to France and Marseille.

Air Algérie announced the allocation of daily flights and aircraft according to the fleet available every day, to take care of the passengers who are stranded since last Wednesday, where it has so far transported passengers from Algeria to France on two different flights, and the company also submitted a request to schedule two flights, on Friday, to ensure passengers traveling from France to Algeria

Echorouk sources said that Air Algerie has rushed for days to install a crisis cell to solve the problem that was caused by the announcement of the company “Aigle Azur” to stop flights between Algeria and France and stop selling tickets through airports, which has hampered the flights of Algerian passengers to and from destinations that were guaranteed by “Aigle Azur” in France.

It is worth mentioning that the company “Aigle Azur” announced about a week ago to freeze flights from the airports of France to several countries, including Brazil, Portugal, Mali, and even Algeria, which accounted for 60% of its flights, this is why the sale of airline tickets at Algiers Houari Boumediene International Airport has been stopped, and travelers were also surprised when they were told that the French company canceled its flights on Wednesday without warning.

The company said in a statement on its official website on Thursday that it is suffering from a severe financial crisis that could lead to bankruptcy, which caused the volatility of flights across a number of airports for days, and confirmed the total stopping of flights starting from September 7, and called on its customers to ensure they have no flights after September 6, and will receive compensation from legally competent authorities, calling on its customers whose flights were canceled to approach their insurance companies for bank card compensation.

In the same context, the company said that customers who bought tickets through travel agencies should ask them to change the ticket or get compensation and apologizes to its customers pledging to find quick solutions to the economic crisis which it is facing in order to be able to return to business as soon as possible.

The company had suffered from financial problems in 2011, which led its officials to enter negotiations to sell it, but it soon returned to normal activity, but continued to suffer from the same problems due to poor management, especially after the death of its general manager last year.