State-owned airline Air Algeria has signed two contracts with the US’ Boeing and French-Italian aerospace group Avions de Transport Regional (ATR) to acquire 11 medium and long-haul aircraft.

Air Algeria has an existing fleet of 29 passenger aircraft and two cargo planes.

The airline flies to 40 international destinations and operates 26 domestic routes.

In July, another Algerian carrier, Tassili Airlines, ordered aircraft worth more than $332m with Boeing and Brazil’s Embraer.

Tassili transports oil and gas staff in Algeria and has a fleet of 20 aircraft. In 2006, it set out a strategy to expand its fleet to 41 planes costing $1bn by 2010 (MEED 7:7:09).