Ryanair to add over 2 million seat capacity to Morocco destination

Ryanair will raise the number of air routes to Morocco to 37 by the next summer adding 2.073 million seat capacity, up 54% compared to pre-pandemic levels of 2019.

The news was announced following an agreement between the low-cost airline and Morocco’s tourism promotion office, much to the delight of tourism businesses that are slowly recovering from the fallout of the border closures due to the pandemic.

The deal will help connect 45 European airports to 10 Moroccan cities namely Agadir, Essaouira, Marrakech, Rabat, Tangier, Tetouan, Fez, Nador, Oujda and Ouarzazat.

“Morocco is one of our key markets, due to its strong attractiveness and the growing demand from travelers for this destination,” Ryanair CEO Eddie Wilson said.

Tourism represents some 7% of Morocco’s GDP with 8 billion dollars of revenue in 2019.

The measures to contain the pandemic have hit hard the sector which only received 4 million tourists in 2021 and receipts of 3.5 billion dollars.

The government had announced a 220 million-dollar-package to help the sector’s recovery focusing mainly on aid to renovate tourism infrastructure, keep jobs and ease debt burden.