Morocco Plans Swift Repatriation of 31,800 Citizens Stranded Abroad

"The scheduling of the return of our fellow citizens depends solely on the government decision. But technically, this operation can be carried out in one week to a maximum of one month," says an insider from the Ministry of Air Transport to Medias24.

"Depending on the contingents of Moroccans stranded in each foreign country, RAM will be able to dispatch either medium-capacity aircraft such as the Boeing 737 (100 to 215 seats) or wide-body aircraft such as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner (200 to 330 seats) to the airports of each of them," he explains, estimating that this repatriation operation should not exceed 250 rotations.

On their arrival, these Moroccans will be transported to their respective regions of origin, which will provide them with requisitioned hotel units. "The fleet of tourist transport buses will be used to transport all the repatriates after the very rapid conclusion of customs formalities which should be expedited," assures, for his part, the president of a Regional Tourism Council.

"After having carried out a covid-19 test on all arrivals and hospitalized those who require full medical care, more than 31,000 people should be directed to requisitioned hotels, in separate groups in time and space or not, depending on the pace that will have been decided," he adds.

"As the hotels selected by the ministries are all 3 and 4 star hotels with an average of 100 to 180 rooms each, the total need will be 100 to 200 hotels throughout Morocco," he says, while recalling that about thirty hoteliers in Casablanca are already housing medical staff from neighboring hospitals and people requiring medical supervision.