Spain to send new flights to repatriate its nationals stranded in Morocco

The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs is working to schedule, from next week on, new flights to allow more Spanish travelers stranded in Morocco to return to Spain, said the Spanish Embassy in Rabat, quoted by the Europa Press agency.

On Twitter, the announcement pushed internet users to ask if Moroccans with Spanish citizenship or with a Spanish residence permit could also travel on these planes to return to Spain.

El @MAECgob está trabajando para fletar a partir de la próxima semana nuevos vuelos para facilitar que más viajeros españoles bloqueados en #Marruecos puedan regresar a #España. https://t.co/v6PKDtrItP

— EmbajadaEspañaMarruecos (@EmbEspanaRabat) April 20, 2020

For the moment, the embassy has only indicated that it will inform in the coming days, in collaboration with the consulates and the airline company Iberia, of the procedure to follow to obtain a seat on one of these flights.

Last week, the Association of Friends of the Moroccan People (ITRAN) wrote a letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya, in which they asked for the repatriation of Moroccans living in Spain who have remained stranded. According to ITRAN, the Moroccan government has assured that it does not block these repatriations, but that it is up to the countries of residence to decide on this question.

So far, the Spanish government has indicated that Morocco does not allow Moroccans to leave its borders, even if they reside in other countries. Morocco has already authorized the departure of Moroccans with Belgian and Italian citizenships, Europa Press recalls.

Following the pandemic of the novel coronavirus, Morocco suspended its air and maritime links with Spain on March 13, but reopened, until March 23, the border posts with Ceuta and Melilla to allow the return of Spanish tourists and Europeans on the Kingdom’s soil. This allowed some 9,500 Spaniards to return, but not Moroccans living in Spain.

Since then, only 150 Spaniards have been able to return home on a single flight between Casablanca and Madrid on April 3.