In another sign for the growing business and tourist interest, German Airline Company Lufthansa has returned to Algeria after a 15 year absence with five Algiers-Frankfurt weekly flights from 15th July, the vice-president of the company’s sales department, Joachim Steinbach announced Sunday.
"From Frankfurt, Algerian travelers will also have the possibility of taking connecting flights to 800 destinations in 137 countries," he told a news conference, cited by APS. The price of Algiers-Frankfurt ticket has been fixed for a "trial period" to AD44,000 (around 470 euros), but it "can be re-examined as of next October," the Lufthansa official noted.
"We are delighted to include Algiers into our network again, especially since several of our major customers in the Norwegian market has asked for this service", added Gro Smit - Country Manager of Lufthansa in Norway. "This is a clear statement from Lufthansa that we are serious when we say that the oil and energy industry is an important market for us, in which we plan to grow and gain a larger share of the passenegr volume" she continued.
In 2004, Germany imported goods worth around 825 million Euro (mainly mineral oil) and exported goods worth 974 million Euro to Algeria.
There was already a Lufthansa connection with Algiers from April 1976 to the end of 1990 which had to be suspended for economic reasons.
