Private jets are reportedly flying in and out of Morocco, despite travel ban

Despite health restrictions and closed air and sea borders, private flights are reportedly entering and exiting Morocco for significant sums of money.

The private charters are flying freely between European capitals and Morocco. Travelers aboard the aircraft are not required to undergo the 7-day isolation required by Morocco upon arrival to the kingdom, according to reports.

Organizers of these flights rent small planes and obtain authorizations issued by a specific department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They only need the travelers’’ passports three days before the flight to complete the authorization procedure in time. Every single passenger’s one-way ticket can cost up to MAD 200,000.

The flights are clearly legal, as the licenses were supposedly issued by the ministry. But many Moroccans stuck abroad have been voicing their outrage on social media, calling this “discrimination,” and “special privilege exclusive to the wealthiest individuals.”

Many also shared their experience of being offered a flight back to Morocco aboard these private jets with the hefty cost of 13,000 euros.

A quick internet search clearly confirms the availability and aforementioned costs of the flights, with many private Moroccan and international airplane and private jet companies offering the service as of this date.

A source of the Assabah newspaper working in the human rights sector called the flights “a violation of the sovereign decision to suspend flights.”

These licenses that may violate this decision must be issued by the same entity, meaning the government, in accordance with the principle of the parallelism of formalities.

Moroccans stranded in Europe or wishing to travel for important reasons meet the same conditions as those boarding private flights.

Some of them have not been able to reach their work or their families, not to mention the cost of living abroad, without finding a way to allow them to return to their home country, as they wait daily for a government decision to appeal.