Royal Air Maroc Plans To Quadruple Its Aircraft Fleet By 2030

Royal Air Maroc’s bold expansion plans are quickly taking shape as the airline has now launched a tender for new aircraft, and the carrier plans to increase its fleet size to nearly 200 planes by 2030.

Rapid expansion

Royal Air Maroc is Morocco’s flag carrier and has quickly risen to become one of the biggest carriers on the content. The airline is expanding rapidly and announced late last year that it plans to push its fleet to nearly 200 planes, up from the current 50 it operates.

(Old livery.) Photo: EvrenKalinbacak I Shutterstock.

Morocco’s tourism industry has seen rapid growth in the last few years, with tourist arrivals of approximately 14.5 million people, with anticipated growth reaching 17.5 million by 2026. The country is also gearing up to co-host the 2030 World Cup, which would inevitably require international and solid air transport links, an ambition the airline has already begun to fulfill.

As reported by Simple Flying in January, Royal Air Maroc makes the top 5 list of largest airlines in Africa by fleet size with 51 planes in its possession.

Speaking to Reuters, the airline’s CEO Abdelhamid Addou confirmed it had launched a tender to grow its fleet: “The tender has been launched on April 15.”

The airline’s development plan

In July 2023, the Moroccan government and Royal Air Maroc announced a new partnership in which the country agreed to invest additional capital in the national airline to further push its development plans. At the time, per La Vie Éco, Addou explained the different aspects of the development plan:

“There are four aspects in this development plan. There is firstly the fact of covering the national/domestic regions that connect the different cities of the country without necessarily connecting through Casablanca. Then we will put in place a sufficient number of point-to-point touristic routes to allow both Moroccans of the world and tourists to come into our country.

There is finally the fact of developing the hub of Casablanca in a strong way, in a way that will allow us to connect different populations of the world via Casablanca and all of this aims once again to further develop this aviation sector and Royal Air Maroc.”

Growing the fleet to 200 planes

Addou also underlined that a key part of the plan is to develop the fleet in order to meet rising demand. The order would necessarily include a majority of medium haul jets but would also comprise short and long-haul airframes, as per the first and second points of the plan.

Photo: Santi Rodriguez / Shutterstock

“We estimate over the next few years to pass from 50 planes to 200 planes, and thus to have the capacity that we need to respond to this demand and need. In terms of human resources, the means are already in place and we will accelerate them so we can augment the rhythm of training, of recruitment and to attract a maximum amount of talent that will accompany us on this strategic vision and new ambition.”

The fleet growth is expected to be completed by 2037. In July, the airline’s CEO said:

“There are a number of companies that will respond to it [the tender] like Boeing and Airbus of course, but also others like Embraer or ATR. It’s up to them to put forth the best offer.”

What do you think about the airline’s expansion plans? Let us know in the comments below.