Ryanair’s Dakhla Ads Face Pressure in Ireland Over Morocco Claim
An Irish MEP is challenging Ryanair’s promotion of Dakhla as a Moroccan destination. Ireland’s advertising watchdog has issued a preliminary ruling in her favour, recommending that the ads be withdrawn in their current form. A final decision is expected soon.
Presenting Dakhla as a Moroccan destination could force Ryanair to change its advertising in Ireland. The airline is the subject of a complaint by MEP Lynn Boylan, who disputes the city’s association with Morocco in its tourism campaigns. In a preliminary ruling issued on 12 October, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) backed the lawmaker’s argument, according to revelations published this Thursday, 15 October, by the Irish daily The Irish Times.
It all began with promotional emails sent to Ryanair customers last March. The airline invited travellers to discover Dakhla, its beaches, desert landscapes and water sports. It notably offered them the chance to explore Moroccan culture up close. In another campaign circulated in August, Morocco’s name appeared directly on an image promoting the destination.
These references prompted a reaction from Lynn Boylan, a member of the Irish Sinn Féin party. The MEP believes that presenting Dakhla as Moroccan amounts to taking a position in the territorial dispute over Western Sahara. In her complaint, she accuses the airline of erasing the Sahrawi population by associating the city with the Kingdom.
Her initiative has now achieved an initial result. The ASA’s staff believe Ryanair’s messages risk misleading consumers. Their assessment is based on the position that Dakhla is not part of Morocco in light of the disputed international status of Western Sahara.
The organisation is therefore recommending that its independent council rule in the MEP’s favour and ask Ryanair to stop running the ads in their current form. The council has yet to rule on the conclusions issued on 12 October.
Ryanair defends its Dakhla advertising
The airline denies any political intent. In its submissions to the Irish authority, it says it simply wanted to present a tourist destination to its passengers, without expressing a position on Western Sahara’s sovereignty.
Ryanair has served Dakhla since the beginning of 2025. The launch of its routes from Madrid and Lanzarote was part of the development of air services to the region, which Moroccan authorities are seeking to promote to European visitors.
The dispute is therefore not about a new destination, but about how a European airline presents it to its customers. Rabat considers Dakhla part of the Kingdom’s Southern Provinces. Morocco supports autonomy for Western Sahara under its sovereignty, while the Polisario Front claims independence for the territory.
Lynn Boylan had previously taken an interest in Ryanair’s flights to Dakhla. In November 2024, she questioned the European Commission about the application of the air transport agreement between the European Union and Morocco to the destination. This time, her initiative directly targets the airline’s commercial communications.
The case recalls the objections that accompanied the launch of Transavia’s Paris-Dakhla route in 2017. The Polisario Front then brought proceedings against the airline, which defended the authorisations granted by the relevant aviation authorities.
For Ryanair, the immediate consequence could be an obligation to revise its advertising aimed at the Irish market. The proceedings do not concern flight authorisations or the continued operation of routes to Dakhla.
