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Irish low-cost airline group Ryanair has announced, earlier in December, that it will start operating domestic flights for the first time in Morocco by April 2024. Through its new Morocco routes, Ryanair will be competing with national carrier Royal Air Maroc (RAM) and Emirati low-cost airline Air Arabia, which were the only two airline companies to operate domestic flights in the Kingdom.
In a press release dated December 12, Ryanair said that it will launch 11 new domestic routes to 9 Moroccan cities, namely Agadir, Errachidia, Essaouira, Fez, Marrakech, Ouarzazate, Oujda, Tangier and Tetouan.
Indeed, the Irish company has started selling tickets for the new Morocco routes on its website. The first Ryanair flight, linking two Moroccan cities, is expected to leave the Agadir Airport on April 2, 2024, for Oujda, at the price of 272.64 dirhams. The one-way flight for the return is sold at 443.46 dirhams and is scheduled for April 5.
Air Arabia does not operate a route, linking the two cities, while Royal Air Maroc sets the price for the same one-way trip and during the same period at 1,005 dirhams. The same price also goes for the return flight.
During the whole month of April, Royal Air Maroc is selling tickets for flights between Agadir and Oujda for the same aforementioned price. Meanwhile, Ryanair’s prices fluctuate depending on the time of the flight, ranging between 318.06 dirhams and 443.46 dirhams in both directions.
New domestic flights, competitive prices
Ryanair sells a one-way flight, linking Agadir to Fez, on April 1 for 443.46 dirhams. The return flight, scheduled for April 5, is sold for the same amount. The company puts the same price tag on all its round-trip flights between the two airports.
On the other hand, Air Arabia sells the same one-way ticket for 344 dirhams, and the return flight for 280 dirhams. The price changes later to 312 dirhams for the rest of the month. Royal Air Maroc, however, sets the price of the same ticket at 1,255 dirhams. A price that remains the same for the remainder of the month.
As for a round-trip flight from Marrakesh to Fez (outbound flight on April 3 and return on April 7), the three companies offer different prices. While Ryanair sells tickets starting at 272.46 dirhams one-way and 443.46 dirhams for the return flight, Air Arabia offers one-way tickets for 492 dirhams, and the return flight at 396 dirhams. Royal Air Maroc offers tickets for 1,645 dirhams one way, and the same amount for the return trip.
While RAM maintains the same prices during the month of April, the prices proposed by Air Arabia Airlines change slightly (460 dirhams for round trips and 396 dirhams for the return flights), while Ryanair prices change to 318 dirhams for one way, for example, on April 11, and 318 dirhams for the return flight on the 16th of the same month.
Ryanair and RAM have a route linking Tangier to Ouarzazate, while Air Arabia does not provide any flight linking the airports of the two cities. Ryanair sells its one-way flight from Tangier to Ouarzazate on May 4 and a return flight on the 7th of the same month, for 443.46 dirhams and 318.06 dirhams respectively. RAM, however, sells the same tickets for 1,810 dirhams.
While RAM maintains the same prices during the month of May, Ryanair's prices fluctuate between 443.46 dirhams and 318.06 dirhams for one-way flights.
It is noteworthy that 14 Ryanair aircrafts will be based in Morocco, both for domestic and foreign flights. As for international connectivity, the company will launch, as early as the summer of 2024, 24 new air routes to Morocco, from 8 strategic markets: Germany, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom. It will include six Moroccan destinations: Marrakesh with 9 new airlines, Tangier (8), Agadir (3), Beni Mellal (2), and the new opening of Fez and Rabat.
Last March, the Moroccan government had adopted a new roadmap for the tourism sector for the period 2023-2026, with a budget of approximately 6.1 billion dirhams, with the aim of raising the number of tourists from 11 million in 2022 to 17.5 million tourists by 2026, by increasing air transport capacity, enhancing promotion and marketing, and increasing the number of operating hotels.
