Royal Air Maroc to service new Casablanca-Tel Aviv route next month
Morocco’s national carrier Royal Air Maroc announced Monday it will launch a direct air route between Casablanca and the Israeli city of Tel Aviv as of March 13.
Royal Air Maroc said in a statement four flights will be operated weekly at the beginning, before being brought up to five flights per week.
“This new air route comes in response to the aspirations of the Moroccan community residing in Israel, which has strong and solid relations with its country of origin,” the statement said.
The airline said the route also aims “to facilitate movement between the two countries for all Moroccan travelers and businessmen.”
RAM’s announcement comes as Israeli Minister of Economy and Industry Orna Barbivai is visiting Morocco for talks with Moroccan officials on means to bolster economic and trade relations between the two countries.
The visit was marked Monday by the signing of an economic cooperation deal aiming at facilitating investments in key industrial and innovative fields.
The deal came in implementation of an agreement signed by the two countries in December 2020 when they agreed to resume diplomatic ties, launch direct flights, and boost trade.
RAM had initially scheduled to operate the Casablanca-Tel Aviv route earlier, but had to postpone the plan due to pandemic-related concerns.
In October last year, RAM and Israeli carrier El Al signed a Memorandum of Understanding to govern their ties in order to offer the best services to customers and to explore the possibility of concluding a Codeshare partnership on the direct routes operated between Morocco and Israel, as well as on the routes of their networks beyond their respective hubs.
The first direct commercial flights between Israel and Morocco had landed in Marrakesh on July 25, 2021, marking the launch of non-stop flights between Morocco and Israel since the two countries agreed to resume diplomatic ties in December 2020 under the US-brokered deal.
The two flights were operated by Israir and El Al.
