Marruecos aumentará la inversión en los aeropuertos para favorecer al turismo (original) (raw)
Habiba Laklalech, director of the Moroccan National Airports Office (ONDA) noted that as part of the Envol 2025 investment plan, which aims to support tourism development, these identified airport platforms experienced capacity saturation well before the health crisis, Morocco Today media reported. Therefore, upon reopening, the office decided to intensify the renovation and development project. With this investment, ONDA aims to provide optimal services in terms of air navigation, airport development and operation. It also intends to share its experience and expertise internationally with other operators around the world.
"We have already initiated a certain amount of actions at the airport level in Marrakech, Agadir and Tangier in anticipation of much larger infrastructure projects that will start next year," said the manager. In this regard, the amount of investments would be around 4 billion dirhams for these three airports in 2023, specifies the same source, stressing that the office is examining more innovative financing methods to initiate development projects. In its action plan, ONDA is committed to sustainability in all aspects of airport life. "From now on, in all infrastructure projects that we are going to undertake, we will integrate the environmental dimension from the moment we start the design to the moment we build the airport," continued Habiba Laklalech.
"During COVID-19, the situation has slowed down and some investments have been delayed to gain more visibility in restoring traffic," she added. Within its strategic plan "Flying 2025", ONDA puts a strong emphasis on sustainable development. Created in 2012, the "Flying 2025" plan aims to improve the quality of aviation services and airport operations in the country, while expanding Morocco's aviation infrastructure to increase passenger traffic.
"In all infrastructure projects we undertake, we will integrate the environmental dimension from the moment of the airport's design and construction," the ONDA director general emphasised. The new action plan places greater emphasis on digital transformation, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, ONDA will gradually introduce technologies such as paperless check-in and contactless biometrics.
According to Laklalech, this technology will "increase the capacity and operational efficiency of existing facilities and bring high added value for passengers while reducing the need to invest in new and costly infrastructure". The recovery rate at Moroccan airports is clearly increasing with a commercial traffic volume of 12,294,484 passengers and 108,640 airport movements, recorded at the end of August 2022. Casablanca's Mohammed V airport is also doing well with respective recovery rates of 67% and 69% compared to the same period in 2019.
As for domestic traffic, its recovery rate currently stands at around 67% for the period January-end August with 1,334,903 passengers served. International air traffic recorded 10,959,581 passengers at the end of August, representing a recovery rate of 74% compared to the same period in 2019. In terms of airport movements, it is 108,640 for the first eight months of 2022. There were 18,918 airport movements in August, compared to the 20,678 movements recorded, representing a recovery rate of 91%. Air freight was 46,760 tonnes at the end of August, representing a recovery rate of 74%.
Specifically, Tangier-Ibn Battuta airport received 110,154 passengers (113% recovery rate), Oujda airport received 61,992 passengers (137%) and Nador el-Arrui airport received 61,843 passengers (116%), and Tetouan airport handled 16,160 passengers (160%). With the exception of the domestic markets of South America and Maghreb, in all other markets the recycling rate is above 65% compared to 2019. Compared to 2019, Europe, which accounts for more than 82% of international air traffic, has a recovery rate of around 66%.
The attractiveness of the northern region for roads justifies the increase in traffic, as the same source explains that Moroccans Residing Abroad (MRE) in Europe represents 74% of this traffic thanks to direct air connections to major European cities. In this regard, Ryanair is preparing to launch soon more than a dozen routes from Morocco, especially from Tetouan to the airports of Madrid, Alicante and Seville.