Morocco’s Air Travel Plummets 57% in First Half of 2021 Amid COVID-19 Crisis

The airports of the kingdom welcomed 4.96 million passengers in the first half of the year compared to 11.66 million passengers the previous year, a 57.5% drop in air traffic, according to statistics from the National Airports Office (ONDA). In this group, only 52,509 travelers were welcomed in the second quarter of the year.

In this Covid-19 context, aircraft movements recorded a 54.8% drop in the first half of the year. The movement observed is 50,595 in the second quarter of last year compared to 1,731 in the same period of 2019, a 96.6% drop.

Air freight has also seen a decline in the first half of the year. This is 36.3%, i.e. a transported volume of around 30,998 tons, including 9,387 in the second quarter of the year (-64%), the ONDA specifies. As a result, overflight movements decreased by 52.3% (788,573 compared to 1,653,651 recorded in the same period of the previous year).

These declines are explained by the closure of the kingdom’s air borders on March 15. Only special repatriation flights have been organized so far.