From December, the Moroccan national pavilion will operate direct flights Casablanca-Tel Aviv and Casablanca-Dubai. Long-awaited new routes with strong growth prospects.
It is on board its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner with a capacity of 26 passengers in business class and 276 in economy, that Royal Air Maroc (RAM) will offer flights connecting Casablanca-Mohammed V airport to those of Tel Aviv and Dubai. Casablanca-Tel Aviv flights will start on December 12 and flights to Dubai on the 16 of the same month.
After more than six years of waiting, RAM finally formalizes its new link between Casablanca and Dubai. The company which previously served the capital of the United Arab Emirates had, because of the war in Iraq, to interrupt its connections in 2003. Several – unsuccessful – attempts to relaunch the destination had followed until 2015.
There will soon be five flights a week between Morocco and Israel
On this route, RAM will compete with Gulf airlines. Emirates Airlines, which offers a regular daily flight, but also Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways, Saudia and Gulf Air. The introductory price for a return economy class is 430 euros.
To serve the David-Ben-Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, three flights per week will initially be scheduled. This frequency will evolve “in a short time to five flights per week”, underlines the RAM in its press release. The first departures from Morocco will be on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays at 11:55 p.m., and return flights from Israel are scheduled on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7.15 a.m. The introductory price for a return economy class is 330 euros.
Collect Israeli tourist manna
The establishment of the direct link between Morocco and Israel was made possible by the air agreement signed in January 2021 authorizing national airlines to serve the two countries. A historic agreement, which is part of the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two states, established for almost a year.
In 2022, 200,000 Israelis are expected to visit Morocco
According to the RAM press release, this opening “meets the expectations of the Moroccan community established in Israel, which maintains strong links with its country of origin”. »> Morocco has more than 3,000 citizens of the Jewish faith on its soil, and nearly 700,000 Israelis are of Moroccan origin.
According to the latest official figures, before the borders were closed and the restrictions linked to the pandemic were put in place, 50,000 to 70,000 tourists from Morocco had to make several stops to reach Israel.
Last March, Nadia Fettah Alaoui – then Minister of Tourism, now in charge of the Economy – declared that she anticipated the arrival of 200,000 Israeli visitors during the first year following the resumption of direct flights. Before the pandemic, Morocco received an average of 13 million foreign tourists per year. Tourism receipts fell 54% to 36.3 billion dirhams ($ 3.8 billion) in 2020.
Member of a prestigious alliance
In addition to sharing its codes with American Airlines, Iberia, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian and S7 Airlines, Royal Air Maroc is part of the prestigious Oneworld alliance. In April 2020, RAM became the first African airline member of this network, created in 1999 and uniting fourteen of the main airlines.
Thanks to this partnership, the Moroccan national pavilion offers an average of “1,000 destinations in more than 170 countries”.
Royal Air Maroc is the first African airline full member of the @traveloneworld Alliance!
Royal Air Maroc is the 1st African airline member of the alliance @traveloneworld !
Royal Air Maroc is the first African airline to be a member of the global airline alliance @traveloneworld ! pic.twitter.com/ay0b4Hvj5I
– Royal Air Maroc (@RAM_Maroc) November 15, 2021
RAM regular travelers have benefited from the full range of alliance benefits and services since April 2020. In particular, members of the Safar Flyer loyalty program can access more than 650 airport lounges, as well as earn and redeem rewards with all airlines belonging to Oneworld.
