Dubai-based Emirates Airline has confirmed that its daily Boeing 777 service to Algiers will continue unaffected for the next twelve months despite Algeria’s move to terminate its 2013 bilateral air-services agreement with the UAE. In a statement issued on 13 February 2026 the carrier said customers should “proceed as booked” and named 3 February 2027 as the last scheduled flight (EK 757) on the route. (thenationalnews.com)
The clarification follows an Algerian government notice last week triggering Article 22 of the accord, which starts a mandatory one-year notice period before cancellation. The UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) stressed that the agreement therefore “remains in force” and that air traffic rights, including fifth-freedom marketing and code-share approvals, stay intact until early 2027.
For corporate travel managers the timeline matters: Algeria is an important hydrocarbons and infrastructure market served almost exclusively through the Gulf. Multinationals now have a clear 12-month planning window to secure alternative routings or renegotiate mobility clauses in employee contracts and project bids.
![Emirates keeps Algeria flights running but sets final service for 3 February 2027]()
To streamline that planning, VisaHQ’s UAE portal (https://www.visahq.com/united-arab-emirates/) can fast-track Algerian, Emirati and onward-destination visas, provide bulk-application dashboards and push real-time alerts on regulatory changes—giving mobility teams an extra layer of certainty as the bilateral landscape shifts.
Emirates meanwhile is already assessing back-fill capacity elsewhere in Africa and could redeploy the Algiers slot to higher-yield East African or Indian markets once the route closes.
From a compliance standpoint assignees should expect no immediate change in visa-on-arrival or import-duty rules when flying Emirates, but HR should brief travellers that the political situation is fluid and may affect future documentation requirements. Travel insurers may also adjust policy wording once the official termination date nears.
Diplomatically, the episode highlights how shifts in bilateral air accords can ripple through mobility programmes long before a flight actually disappears. Companies with pan-North-African operations are advised to stress-test contingency routings via Cairo, Tunis or Istanbul and monitor GCAA bulletins for any interim amendments.
The clarification follows an Algerian government notice last week triggering Article 22 of the accord, which starts a mandatory one-year notice period before cancellation. The UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) stressed that the agreement therefore “remains in force” and that air traffic rights, including fifth-freedom marketing and code-share approvals, stay intact until early 2027.
For corporate travel managers the timeline matters: Algeria is an important hydrocarbons and infrastructure market served almost exclusively through the Gulf. Multinationals now have a clear 12-month planning window to secure alternative routings or renegotiate mobility clauses in employee contracts and project bids.
To streamline that planning, VisaHQ’s UAE portal (https://www.visahq.com/united-arab-emirates/) can fast-track Algerian, Emirati and onward-destination visas, provide bulk-application dashboards and push real-time alerts on regulatory changes—giving mobility teams an extra layer of certainty as the bilateral landscape shifts.
Emirates meanwhile is already assessing back-fill capacity elsewhere in Africa and could redeploy the Algiers slot to higher-yield East African or Indian markets once the route closes.
From a compliance standpoint assignees should expect no immediate change in visa-on-arrival or import-duty rules when flying Emirates, but HR should brief travellers that the political situation is fluid and may affect future documentation requirements. Travel insurers may also adjust policy wording once the official termination date nears.
Diplomatically, the episode highlights how shifts in bilateral air accords can ripple through mobility programmes long before a flight actually disappears. Companies with pan-North-African operations are advised to stress-test contingency routings via Cairo, Tunis or Istanbul and monitor GCAA bulletins for any interim amendments.
