Royal Air Maroc, the Moroccan-government owned airline, could tie up with a major carrier in the Gulf ahead of a later privatisation, according to the country’s tourism minister.
The airline, which was bailed out by authorities to the tune of $193m, has faced increased competition from other operators in the North African country following the introduction of Morocco’s open-skies policy in 2007. The government also handed Air Maroc $900m with which to upgrade itself by 2016.
Asked if the government could align with a Gulf-based carrier such as Dubai’s Emirates Airline or Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways, Haddah Lahcen responded: “We wouldn’t rule that out. Those are very respectable, very big, well-managed companies with a very good business model.”
“There will be privatisation, but I think there will probably be some kind of strategic alliance with a good carrier,” Lahcen told Arabian Business in an interview in Dubai. “There will be complementary routes for Air Maroc, which has a very strong presence in West Africa and Western Europe.”
However, Lahcen added that Casablanca-based Air Maroc had no deal in place with another airline and the government was “still looking into different possibilities”. He did not specify on what terms or financial particulars any partnership would take place.
Air Maroc, which lost €518m in its most recent financial year, operates a fleet of 42 Boeing aircraft across a network of 67 destinations.
Morocco, which was spared the worst of Arab Spring political unrest, expects to see tourism numbers and revenues rise this year. “We’re expecting something like 700,000 more tourists. So in general we’ll reach something like 10.7m, if not 11m tourists this year. We’d like to see the revenue grow by at least 4 or 5 percent,” Lahcen said.
The country’s largest markets for tourism numbers are Spain and France, he added, although Morocco is seeing an increased number of visitors from the Arab world and China. Tourism is the country’s biggest contributor of foreign currency, accounting for about $7bn a year, Lahcen said.
