To reach 25 million cumulative passengers during the reference year of 2019, Moroccan airports must accommodate nearly 8.5 million passengers by the end of 2022 to achieve this feat. From January to the end of October 2022, cumulative air traffic recorded the arrival of 16.5 million passengers for all airports.
Will air traffic in Morocco completely return to its pre-pandemic level by reaching the performance of the year 2019? For the moment, the reversal of this trend is essentially conditioned by air traffic in the months of November and December 2022. While during the year 2019, the airports of the Kingdom welcomed more than 25 million passengers, an increase by 11.18% compared to 2018, the cumulative air traffic from January to the end of October 2022 recorded the arrival of 16.5 million passengers for all Moroccan airports, i.e. a recovery rate of 79 % of passengers compared to the year 2019.
Today, the calculation is simple: to reach 25 million passengers compared to the reference year of 2019, Moroccan airports must accommodate the equivalent of 8.5 million passengers by the end of 2022 to achieve this achievement, although the gap is still significant. It goes without saying that attendance during the months of August and October fluctuated between 2.4 and 2.1 million passengers. While waiting for the acceleration of the outlook, during the month of October, the airports recorded a volume of commercial traffic approaching 2.1 million passengers, i.e. a recovery rate of 101% compared to the same period. of the year 2019.
Airports greater than or equal to 100%
During the month of October 2022, several airports reached or even exceeded the volume of air passenger traffic recorded during the same period of 2019. The recovery is consolidated during the first ten months for airports in the North and South regions. ‘Oriental which recorded recovery rates greater than or equal to 100% compared to the same period of 2019, in particular the airport of Tetouan, Oujda, Nador and Tangier.
Similarly, Guelmim airport recorded a recovery rate exceeding 2019 figures due to the latest flights launched with the support of the Regional Council (Air Arabia, RAM and Binter). However, several other airports are still unable to recover their traffic, referring to the period from January to the end of October, such as those of Tan-Tan, whose recovery rate barely reached 36%, Ouarzazate ( 48%) and Zagora (57%). In addition, Casablanca Mohammed V airport, the first airport platform in the Kingdom, welcomed during this month of October, 759,360 passengers through 6,084 flights.
This traffic represents 90% of passenger air traffic and 80% of airport movements recorded during the month of October 2019. Regarding cumulative air traffic since the beginning of 2022, Casablanca Mohammed V airport has welcomed 6.1 million passengers via 54,714 flights, i.e. a recovery rate of around 71% for each of the segments during the first ten months of 2022 compared to the same period of 2019.
The observation is the same for Marrakech-Menara which recorded a recovery rate of 71%, or 3.7 million passengers during this period, once morest 5.3 million during the same period of 2019. Regarding the airport Agadir-Al Massira, it recovered up to 83%, or 1.4 million passengers during the period from January to October once morest 1.6 million passengers.
Europe accounts for 84% of air traffic international
With 221,012 passengers welcomed during the month of October 2022, domestic air traffic recorded a recovery rate of 81% compared to the same period of 2019. This rate is 70% for the period from January to the end of October with 1,756,717 passengers welcomed. International air traffic recorded 1.9 million passengers during the month of October, representing a recovery rate of 104% compared to the same period of 2019.
For cumulative international traffic since the start of 2022, the Kingdom’s airports have welcomed 14.7 million passengers, representing a recovery rate of 80% compared to the same period of 2019. In detail, the markets of the Europe, the Middle and Far East, North America and Africa recorded recovery rates above 100% in October. Europe, which accounts for 84% of international air traffic, recorded a recovery rate of 107% compared to October 2019.
During this month of October, there were 16,845 airport movements, compared to 17,908 movements recorded during the same period of 2019, representing a recovery rate of 94%. As for air freight, it recorded, during this month of October 2022, a recovery rate of 66% compared to the same period of 2019. It stood at 5,525 tonnes. For the cumulative freight from January to the end of October, there were 57,893 tons, representing a recovery rate of 74%.
Yassine Saber / ECO Inspirations
