Royal Air Maroc is highlighting its significant contribution to oneworld as the alliance’s first full member in Africa.
In a ceremony held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, and Lagos, Nigeria in March and in the presence of the Chairman and CEO of Royal Air Maroc, Hamid ADDOU, and oneworld CEO, Rob GURNEY, who said that RAM is adding 30 new destinations to OneWorld’s network, all of which are on the African continent even as demand for air transport is gradually recovering internationally.
Royal Air Maroc was first announced to be joining Oneworld in December 2018 and was integrated as a full member in April 2020.
However, celebration were muted due to the pandemic and now, Morocco’s flagship carrier marks two years of membership with the recently held events to promote the second anniversary of the North African airline’s entry to Oneworld.
“By joining this prestigious alliance, which brings together a selection of the best references in global air transport, Royal Air Maroc connects Africa to an extremely extensive network. We aim, through this campaign, to make our customers discover all the benefits that this membership offers them, ranging from access to the loyalty programs of our partners, to a shared customer experience of superior quality,” underlines Hamid ADDOU , Chairman and CEO of Royal Air Maroc.
“For our Company, rich in its 64 years of existence, this alliance opens a new page in our history: Royal Air Maroc affirms its position among the leaders in Africa,” he added.
Representing Royal Air Maroc in Nigeria was Monsieur Karim Benchekoun the airline’s chief finance and support officer who noted that the main reason for joining Oneworld was the lack of an African partner for the airline industry’s second global strategic alliance formed in 1999.
Benchekoun announced that Royal Air Maroc had “big plans to develop the Nigerian market for obvious reasons” given the different types of markets that the country attracts: business, tourism, shopping.
The airline had previously operated services to the country’s capital Abuja and currently operates a daily service to Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial center to the airline’s Casablanca hub operating a flexible capacity with a mix of Boeing aircraft: the 737-800; 787-8 and 787-9.
Benchekoun also said Royal Air Maroc has a 2022-23 strategy of “capacity focus and frequency” with new routes being added to a “medium-haul plan”.
He noted that prior to the Open Skies agreement with the European Union, Royal Air Maroc had a 55 percent market share of flights into and out of Morocco but this is now sitting at 32 percent.
In the recent signing by the Kingdom of Morocco on 9 March of the ‘Revised Constitution of the African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC)’ and the ‘Memorandum of Implementation (MoI) of the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM)’ may assist Royal Air Maroc in expanding frequency and markets across the continent to further assist the reach of the Oneworld alliance.