I have not the figure of the exact number of Allied POWs in North Africa, but I have the figures of the British, American and French PoWs held in Italy at some dates and they should provide a good estimate. In fact, unless they had been captured in North Africa they could only have been captured as survivors from sunk ships or from downed airplanes.
Moreover, all the Allied men captured in North Africa were detained in Italy, given that the command of that theater of war was ultimately Italian.
| 30 November 1942 | 31 December 1942 | 31 March 1943 | 30 April 1943 |
Degaullist French | 627 | 681 | 2,330 | 1,914 |
British | 70,155 | 71,227 | 70,521 | 68,898 |
American | 24 | 446 | 742 | 556 |
I have never read of air transport of PoWs; maybe, if it happened, it was used only for top ranking prisoners, such as generals.