Ryanair cancels 34 weekly flights to and from Morocco

Ryanair said it had ‘no alternative’ but to reduce its schedule by eight weekly frequencies at Nador, six at Fez, eight at Marrakech and four at Tangier.It will also shut down its entire operation at Oujda Airport, with the loss of a further eight weekly frequencies.

 Ryanair’s Deputy Chief Executive, Michael Cawley said:“Ryanair entered into long term agreements with the Moroccan Tourism Authority and ONDA, as part of the Moroccan Govt’s 5 year plan to grow tourism. Ryanair has spectacularly over-delivered on all its undertakings under these agreements, becoming Morocco’s second largest airline and ensuring the Moroccan Govt achieved its 5 year targets within an earlier timescale. It is regrettable that ONDA has now lost sight of the key to the success of our partnership, offering low fares based on low costs. Ryanair cannot accept cost increases as it seeks to deliver more growth to Morocco. It is completely unacceptable for ONDA to increase the cost of Ryanair’s operation in Morocco and unrealistic for them to expect us to continue to grow our business in that context.

Consequently I regret to announce that we are making these substantial reductions which will result in up to 100,000 less tourists annually and an annual loss in tourism expenditure and job losses for the Moroccan economy of €50million. Ryanair will  now allocate this capacity elsewhere to the many markets earnestly seeking Ryanair’s growth and that are offering longterm, sustainable cost bases to underpin Ryanair’s guaranteed low fares.”