Low-cost company Ryanair intends to withdraw from Morocco over lack of communication

Irish low-cost company Ryanair intends to withdraw indefinitely from Morocco starting next May, sources told Maghreb-Intelligence.

The sources cited tense relations between Ryanair’s management and Moroccan authorities over consecutive border closures since the pandemic hit the North African country in 2020.

“A lack of clarity and communication from Moroccan authorities on what to expect beyond their initial decision to ban travel on December 13,” said the sources.

Ryanair has not put out statements to confirm the claims. But its top management claimed over 16,0,000 of its customers, and 230,000 passengers faced disruptions in their travel plans to Morocco, harming the company’s image.

The Board of Ryanair said in late December that the emergence of Omicron and government restrictions worldwide led to a 33% capacity decrease in January, which is generally a busy time for airlines.

“The impact of these recent Government travel restrictions, in particular last weekend’s ban on UK arrivals into France and Germany, and the suspension of all EU flights to/from Morocco has lowered Ryanair’s expected December traffic from between 10m-11m, to a lower range of between 9.0m-9.5m,” said the company in a statement.

The company said that as a result of these new Covid developments, its full-year traffic forecast will be under 100m passengers, and the expected Net Loss for the full year (end 31 March 2022) is likely to be within a new range of €250m to €450m.