Royal Air Maroc Trainee Pilots Protest Repayment Demands Amid COVID Impact

Royal Air Maroc (RAM) risks being shaken by a new crisis. The trainee pilots it has decided to sanction through legal channels because of their inability to repay the sums it paid for their training in Toulouse will observe a sit-in on Thursday in front of the company’s headquarters from 9 a.m. These pilots were affected by the health crisis related to Covid-19. Their scholarship and social coverage were frozen for a period of about two years. "Faced with this situation, the management of the national company has absolved itself of its contractual responsibilities that bind it to its pilots," says the CPS RAM in a press release.

The trainee pilots had taken out loans (in the amount of 1.6 million dirhams (MDH), repayable over 10 years) for their training, and the national airline had acted as guarantor. Things are not going as planned. RAM has taken legal action to dissolve the sponsorship due to the refusal or inability of these pilots to repay the loans. The company wants to take possession of the funds paid to the banks in their name. With the sit-in that will be organized, it is very likely that the two parties will engage in a tug of war.