Spanish Government Plane Makes Secret Trip to Algeria Amid Diplomatic Tensions

The flight made a round trip on Friday. The aircraft left Spain at 11:06 am, landed in Algeria at 12:20 pm and was back in Madrid at 7:12 pm, according to data collected by The Objective. No information on the identity of the passengers and the purpose of this express trip in the midst of a diplomatic crisis between the two countries.

This trip comes two months after Algeria’s suspension of the treaty of friendship, good neighborliness and cooperation with Spain, in reaction to the latter’s change of position on the Sahara. It also comes in a context of rising gasoline prices and the threat of a cut-off of gas supplies to all of Europe by Russia.

Spain’s imports of Algerian gas fell by 42% year-on-year in the January-July period, while its purchases of this raw material from Russia increased by 15.6%. The United States remained Spain’s main gas supplier during the period, according to the latest data from Enagás published in July.