Moroccan RAM Airlines to Double Fleet by 2020

Morocco’s flag carrier, Royal Air Maroc (RAM), said it wants to increase its fleet two-fold from 50 planes currently to 120 by 2020.

Speaking to Moroccan media, RAM’s CEO Abdelhamid Addou stressed that the new plane acquisition plan is part of the company’s strategy to boost its share of the African air transport market.

In this connection, RAM ordered four Boeing 787-9 Dream-liners to its fleet for a total cost of $1.1 bln, recalled Abdou.

The acquisition of new planes is the backbone of RAM, he said, noting that adding new aircraft will go hand in hand with a recruitment campaign to bolster RAM’s staff already num-bering 3,220 employees.

He said expanding RAM fleet is conducive to its plans to open new routes in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The company transported 1.3 passengers towards Africa in 2017, he re-called.

The company’s turnover jumped from 13 billion dirhams in 2015 to 15.5 billion in 2017, while the occupancy rate im-proved from 68% to 71% over the same period, he said.

In addition to five 787-8 Dreamliners, RAM has a fleet that in-cludes Boeing 737s, 767s and a 747 jumbojet. In total, the airline operates a fleet of 47 mainly Boeing aircraft.

In 2017, RAM, which has its main hub in Casablanca, won for the fourth year in a row Africa’s best regional airlines award delivered by Skytrax, the world’s leading airline and airport rating agency.