Good news for the airline industry and for the tourism sector. Passenger traffic recovered 64% of the volume reached in 2019. In fact, 7.4 million passengers walked the tarmacs of national airports during the first half of 2022, despite the late recovery of international traffic which took place only from February 07, 2022 onwards. The National airports authority (ONDA) was also able to recover 72% in terms of airport movements. It is, of course, the Casablanca hub that attracts the largest share. The Mohammed V airport received 2.7 million passengers during the first half of this year, through 27,258 flights, with a recovery rate of 59% compared to the same period in 2019. The same recovery rate should be noted for the Marrakech - Menara airport, which remains the second infrastructure in terms of passengers with a number of 1.7 million arrivals. The surprise this time comes from the airports of Tetouan, Guelmim, and Oujda, which have been extremely successful with exceptional recovery rates of 444%, 126%, and 104% respectively. This increase has been observed since the resumption of international traffic, thanks to the advent of the holiday period and the launch of (the annual summer) Operation Crossing the Strait. Thus, the month of March recorded a recovery rate of 70%, while the months of May and June reached recovery rates of 109% and 89% respectively. As a market, Europe, which represents more than 83% of international air traffic, recorded a recovery rate of around 67% compared to 2019. Apart from air traffic with South America, all geographical clusters posted significant recovery rates compared to the air traffic recorded during the same period of 2019. Air freight is also recovering. It recorded during the first half of 2022 a recovery rate of 75% compared to the same period of 2019. Air freight stood at 36,296 tons versus 48,696 tons during the same period in 2019. At this rate, Morocco’s airports should return to their normal performance at the end of the year. It must also be said that the promotional campaigns led by the Moroccan National Tourist Board (ONMT) with an offensive on all fronts to regain air routes have borne fruit, and the result is the return of low-cost, regular airlines, and tour operators from Europe.
Badra BERRISSOULE
