Talai to “Echorouk”: The era of indiscriminate pilots' strikes is over… and shifting on airline positions abroad is compulsory

Transport Minister Boudjemaâ Talai, has affirmed that the era of indiscriminate strikes by Air Algérie staff including pilots is over.

Henceforward, if such a strike movement is bound to happen, the strikers have to respect all the procedures to this effect and announce its staging eight days beforehand adding that the pilots have to ensure the minimum service as a priority in line with the rules and regulations in force in the sector, the transport minister underscored.

“Several projects have been identified for the reorganization of transport that records inefficiencies and gaps in activities of land, air and sea transport in Algeria”, summarized the transport minister Boudjema Talai, in a statement to “Echorouk”.

The first observation made by the Minister, following a series of recent meetings with officials of public companies for air, sea and land transport as well as the directors of the transport 48 country’s provinces, is the “acute lack of coordination” between the structures is the main cause of the problems facing the sector.

“What I draw from these meetings is the dire lack of coordination and streamlining between the various structures. This directly impacts on the organization of the whole sector,” he said.

Regarding the airline company Air Algerie, which faces recurrent problems related to punctuality and quality of its services, Mr. Talai considers that the current restructuring of its business portfolio will help increase its market share and improve quality, punctuality and safety within the company.

In addition, he advised, this public company will conduct a review of all its lines and flight programs to better address the issue of compliance with flight times, which is the “black spot” of the national airline company.

He said Air Algerie will review, after the current summer season, all its programs according to its fleet, its aircrew and passenger flow for transport, while international lines of a “strategic nature” will be kept and upgraded.

Moreover, not only training programs for pilots but also in the fields of management and aircraft maintenance will be among the priority actions to be undertaken, the transport Minister underlined.