PARIS — French airline Aigle Azur says all its flights are cancelled starting Saturday due to financial trouble.

The company said on its website that its “financial situation and the resulting operational difficulties do not allow us to ensure flight”’ after Friday.

Junior Minister for Transport Jean-Baptiste Djebbari said on RTL radio the cancellations mean several thousand passengers will remain blocked outside France on their way back from summer vacation.

Djebbari said the French government is helping the company, which filed for bankruptcy protection this week, to find new investors.

APG, a GSA for the airline, urged travel agents to refund all unused tickets through BSP “in an urgent manner”, as Aigle Azur (ZI, IATA 439) will likely be taken offline in the “very near future.”

For questions and clarification, APG suggests agents contact the airline directly.

Aigle Azur, which employs 1,150 people, mostly operates flights between France and Algeria. It also had operated routes to Brazil, China, Russia and other countries in recent years.

Chinese conglomerate HNA Groups is the company’s largest shareholder, with a 49% stake.

With file from the Associated Press