Renovated but without flights: the MREs denounce the abandonment of the Al Hoceima airport

The province of Al Hoceima has a significant community residing abroad, mainly in Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. However, the airport offers virtually no flights to these European capitals. This situation forces thousands of travelers to land in distant airports and undergo long and costly land journeys to reach their families, a financial and moral burden accentuated by the suspension of maritime links.

A brake on tourism and the local economy

According to the tourism actors in the region cited by Rue20, this enclosure not only curbs tourism dynamism; it negatively impacts economic activity and accentuates the isolation of the province, making the airport a vital underutilized tool. The frustration is all the greater as the repeated promises of opening up routes, such as the one connecting Al Hoceima to Malaga, have never gone beyond the stage of official statements.

Faced with this inertia, civil actors and human rights defenders have launched an urgent appeal to local officials and parliamentarians. They demand to "move from the declaration phase to that of effective implementation". The solution, according to them, lies in the opening of direct and regular air links throughout the year to European cities with a high concentration of diaspora, such as Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Brussels or Amsterdam.