Dubai-based mega airline Emirates is being thrown out of Algeria after the North African nation announced that it had started the process of terminating an air services agreement with the United Arab Emirates.
The announcement by Algeria’s government press office didn’t provide a reason for the decision, though it comes amid worsening political relations between Algiers and Abu Dhabi.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been accused of “sowing regional discord” amidst the country’s perceived role in backing rival secessionist actors in Libya, Yemen, and Sudan.
The country’s role in Yemen, a growing rift with Saudi Arabia, and its increasingly close relations with Israel have also been cited by regional analysts as reasons why Algeria has taken this action against the UAE.
In a statement, the Algerian government said it had “initiated the necessary procedures for the termination of the agreement on air services between the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria and the United Arab Emirates.”
Abu Dhabi later said through its General Civil Aviation Authority “that coordination is ongoing with all relevant entities through official channels, and that it is addressing these developments with responsibility and professionalism.”
For the timebeing, Emirates is still permitted to operate flights between Dubai and Algiers, a service it operates up to six days per week using a Boeing 777-300.
However, on Friday, it said that its last planned scheduled service would depart Algiers on February 3, 2027, unless a deal can be struck between Algeria and the UAE.
“Emirates will fully comply with any instructions or directives issued by government authorities and will provide timely updates to its customers, employees, and partners should circumstances change,” Emirates noted in a statement.
The airline first launched flights to Algiers in March 2013, initially with only a few flights per week, before quickly expanding its presence in the country due to healthy customer demand.
Despite some local media reports, Emirates has confirmed that its flights to Algiers to continue to operate as normal for the timebeing. Emirates is the only airline based in the UAE that is affected, given that Etihad Airways and Air Arabia do not currently serve Algiers.
The dispute between Algeria and the UAE came to a head a month after a major rift between Saudi Arabia and the UAE started to emerge. In January, Saudi Arabia accused the UAE of undermining its national security due to its war in the civil war in Yemen.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE had once been close partners in their bid to help restore the official government to power in Yemen, but the alliance broke when Abu Dhabi started to support southern separatist groups.
Could the UAE find itself in a similar position to Qatar in 2017?
In 2017, the Persian Gulf state of Qatar discovered exactly what can happen when Riyadh loses its patience with regional rivals that it believes are weakening its authority.
On June 5, 2017, residents of Qatar woke up to find that four of its neighbors – Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE, and Egypt- had cut diplomatic ties and closed their borders to Qatar overnight.
What ensued was a three-and-a-half-year ‘blockade’ of Qatar that aimed to isolate Doha because of its alleged support of Islamist terrorists. Qatar Airways was banned from flying over the airspace of the blockading nations, leading to huge losses for the state-owned airline.
Airspace restrictions were only lifted after Qatar managed to restore diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia in early 2021.
