Royal Air Maroc Dismisses Trainee Pilot Over Controversial Social Media Post

It all started with a discovery made by a Moroccan teenager passionate about aviation. He found that the Russian trainee pilot had posted the Polisario flag on his Instagram account bearing the name Maxpilot737 alongside other flags. He had also posted a photo of himself at Laâyoune airport, accompanied by coordinates indicating "Western Sahara."

The 16-year-old boy sent a message to the Russian pilot via Instagram to draw his attention to the matter. This apparently did not please him. He blocked the young Nizar on Instagram. The teenager then contacted a Moroccan pilot also working for Royal Air Maroc (RAM) to confront the Russian pilot. The Moroccan pilot suffered the same fate: the Russian pilot also blocked him on Instagram.

In a video posted on his TikTok account, the Moroccan pilot said the young man had told him he had filed a complaint with RAM via the company’s Instagram page. He also contacted Moroccan aviation-specialized pages, which did the same. The company’s reaction did not take long. RAM decided to permanently terminate the collaboration with the pilot.