Algeria has closed its airspace to all civilian and military aircraft registered in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) following its decision to end diplomatic ties with the Gulf nation.
The closure came into effect at midnight on September 11, 2026, following the announcement by the Algerian Ministry of Defense on September 10, 2026.
According to the ministry, this decision “exempts commercial civilian UAE air flights arriving from and departing to Houari Boumediene International Airport in Algiers, which will continue until the end of the current year 2026, the date of the contract’s expiration”.
Algerian authorities have not publicly identified the contract referred to in the airspace-closure announcement.
In February 2026, the UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) was notified that Algeria would be terminating the air services agreement (ASA) as signed between the two nations in 2013.
At the time, Emirates announced that its last scheduled flight would depart from Algerian capital Algiers on February 3, 2027.
FlightAware data indicates that last Emirates flight between Dubai and Algiers was in March 2026. No other UAE airline currently flies to Algeria.
On September 10, 2026, Algeria declared that, “after exhausting all means capable of preserving bilateral relations,” it had decided to “sever diplomatic relations” with the UAE.
Algeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote: “Given the increasing provocative or hostile actions emanating from the United Arab Emirates, Algeria has shown great self-restraint and a high sense of responsibility. It has not hesitated, out of a spirit of full respect for the principles governing relations between states, to make every effort to draw the attention of the Emirati side and warn it of the serious and unjustified consequences that could result from its regrettable conduct.”
Although the Algerian statement did not specify exactly why it had cut diplomatic relations, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has previously claimed that the UAE has had a negative impact in the region.
In response to Algeria’s move, the UAE has expressed “hope that this decision will be temporary, in a manner that preserves the fraternal ties between the two brotherly peoples”.
