Most Moroccan airports to see increase in reception capacity, Ministry of Transport

Morocco’s Minister of Transport Mohammed Abdeljalil announced on Tuesday that the National Office of Airports (ONDA) has launched projects to relieve pressure on airports that have seen an influx that exceeds their capacity, primarily those in Tangier, Marrakech, and Agadir.

The Minister said these projects will increase the reception capacity of the three airports by 25 to 50% over a 15-month period, at a cost of MAD 50 million.

Other projects involving the construction of new terminals are also planned, with a budget of more than MAD 4 billion and a duration of 3 to 5 years, with the goal of accompanying the expected affluence by 2040.

These projects will allow Tangier airport to increase its capacity to 3.2 million passengers, Agadir airport to 4.4 million passengers, and Marrakech airport to 11.5 million, according to the same source.

The ONDA also intends to construct a new terminal at Rabat-Sale airport in order to provide it with modern infrastructure capable of handling 4 million passengers.

The Minister also said that the extension of Al Hoceima airport will be launched soon.

More recently, Moroccan airports received a total of 18,467,415 passengers during the first eleven months of this year, an 80% recovery rate compared to the same period in 2019, said the national Airports Office (ONDA) in its latest November data.

Regarding the total air traffic recorded during the first eleven months of the year, Mohammed V Airport received 6,844,387 passengers through 60,344 flights, with a recovery rate of 72% compared to the same period in 2019, continued the same source.

Airports across the country were able to enhance recovery rates and the volume of air traffic, as these percentages reached or exceeded 100%, the case for Tetouan: 431%, Oujda: 121%, Nador: 109%, Tangier: 105%, Guelmim airport (142%) and Errachidia (99%), according to the same source.