Morocco’s Airport Traffic Plummets 73% as Flight Suspensions Expand

In total, 32 countries are affected by this measure. These are South Africa, Algeria, Argentina, Germany, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Cameroon, Croatia, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mozambique, Norway, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine.

Air traffic has been severely affected by the health crisis. This is evidenced by the statistics of the National Airports Office (ONDA) which indicate that Moroccan airports welcomed 1,063,224 passengers in January and February 2021, a decrease of 73.24% compared to the same period in 2020. Over the same period in 2021, Casablanca-Mohammed V airport recorded 520,613 passengers (-67.25%).

In February 2021, domestic traffic, across all markets, stood at 102,899 passengers, a drop of 55.98%, compared to 317,485 passengers on international flights (-82.74%), according to ONDA in a press release. Similarly, aircraft movements decreased by 67.25% during this February, including 48.63% for Casablanca airport, 10.97% for Tanger-Ibn Battouta and 9.13% for Marrakech-Menara. As for air freight, it decreased by 35.06% to 5,429.41 tons over the same period.