Air Algerie Signs Aircraft Purchase Deals With Boeing, Airbus And ATR

ALGIERS, Jan 7  -- Algerian national flag carrier Air Algerie has signed agreements with three aircraft manufacturers -- Boeing of the United States, the European aerospace consortium Airbus and ATR, a French-Italian aircraft manufacture -- for the purchase of 14 aircraft at a total cost of 60 billion dinars (about US$760 million).

Under its programme to strengthen its fleet, the airline is buying eight Boeing 737-800 new generation planes capable of carrying 150 passengers each, three 250-seat Airbus A330-200 planes and three ATR 72-600, a 70-seater turbo-prop, short-haul regional aircraft.

Under the agreements signed here Monday, the new aircraft are scheduled to be delivered between September 2014 and end-2016. The contracts were signed in the presence of Algeria's Transport Minister, Amar Ghoul, representatives of the manufacturers and the Secretary General of the The General Union of Algerian Workers (UGTA), Abdelmajid Sidi Said.

"It is necessary to strengthen the domestic fleet with the acquisition of new aircraft which is one of the current priorities of the government," said Ghoul during the contracts signing ceremony.

-- BERNAMA-NNN-APS