A regular air service linking Algiers and Marseille (southern France), opened Thursday evening by national Tassili Airlines (TAL).
The service is available every Monday and Thursday from Algiers at 19:00 (18:00 GMT) and From Marseille at 21:30 (20:30 GMT), a TAL official has announced.
TAL said it will offer a fifty-percent discount to its customers, a promotion running until March 28.
Before the 155-seat Boeing 737-800 took off, Minister of Transport Amar Ghoul said TAL flights complement national airline Air Algerie's.
Marseille, as a destination, is much sought after, as a large Algerian community is living in the city.
The opening of regular air services to France, Algerians' first destination in Europe, "is likely to ease pressure on national airline Air Algerie.
When the aircraft landed at the airport of Marseille-Provence, officials from the Algerian consulate general in the city welcomes the first passengers of this air link.
"The opening of the new TAL service is a major event for the Algerian nationals in Marseille, who have reached 200,000," according to Hamid Zerzour, the deputy consul general.
Tassili Airlines intends to open, by the end of 2014, a new air service linking Algiers and Lyon (France's east), TAL officials have disclosed.