Morocco to receive 200,000 Israeli tourists starting February 14

Morocco is expected to receive 200,000 Israeli tourists within the upcoming days, starting February 14, according to Israeli media outlets.

This move came after the Moroccan government decided to reopen air borders starting February 7, after a two-month closure, following the national scientific committee’s recommendation to reopen “as soon as possible.”

Israeli media reported that “El Al Airlines will begin operating direct flights to the Kingdom, starting February 14,” according to the newspaper Israel Hayom, adding, “three other airlines companies are preparing themselves to start operating to Morocco.”

The Arkia airlines company is also preparing to operate direct flights between Tel Aviv and Casablanca twice a week, starting April, and then it will double its flights to 4 a week, while the Israir airlines company decided to start operating flights on March 28.

Morocco and Israel will resume direct flights, which were temporarily suspended due to the outbreak of the Omicron variant, forcing several countries to suspend flights, in an effort to curb the spread of the virus.

The operator in the tourism sector, Zoubair Bouhout told Hespress that Israeli companies decided to resume their international flights to Morocco, after the temporary suspension due to the pandemic, noting that “a direct air route between Casablanca and Tel Aviv was launched on December 12, with a frequency of 3 flights a week.”

“Israeli airline companies organized the first direct flight between Tel Aviv and Rabat, carrying Israeli diplomats, in December 2020,” said the tourism operator.

“This move came as part of bilateral agreements that were signed between both countries, and after this date, there were direct flights on July 25 of last year,” he added.

Previously, the first commercial flight of Royal Air Maroc (RAM) linking Casablanca and Tel Aviv, initially scheduled for December 12, has been postponed to a later date, due to pandemic-related worries.

Additionally, Morocco’s flagship carrier Royal Air Maroc (RAM) and the Israeli airline El Al signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in October, said RAM in a press release.

This air agreement was signed in January 2021, authorizing Moroccan and Israeli airlines to serve both sides. The agreement is part of the US-brokered Abraham accords in December 2020.

During the November meeting of the Foreign Relations and Defense Committee in Knesset, Israeli politician Meir Masri announced that a joint Moroccan-Israeli initiative to remove visa requirements would be discussed.