Aviation
Morocco, EU initial 'Open Skies' agreement
Morocco TIMES 12/15/2005 | 5:42 pm
Morocco and the European Union (EU) agreed to liberalise and expand aviation services and energise airline competition in an "open skies" agreement they initialed on Wednesday in the southern city of Marrakech, reported Reuters.
The "Open Skies" agreement, to be effective next year after parliamentary ratification, came after negotiations between the 15- European countries and Rabat.
Transport ministers from the EU will meet their counterparts from the southern Mediterranean region in Marrakech, on Thursday, to expand cooperation, added Reuters.
Morocco had separate aviation agreements with individual EU states and seeks through this new agreement to intensify aviation competition and double the number of tourist arrivals to 10 million by 2010.
Without such a deal, the government would have had to invest MAD 30 billion to expand its Royal Air Maroc airline fleet by 60 new planes over the next five years, to cater for the expected additional tourists, Moroccan authorities told Reuters.
They said the "Open Skies" agreement, which ends restrictions and limits on flights and national airlines operating between the EU and Morocco, will help Rabat bring the additional travellers and holidaymakers it needs to boost its tourism industry.
"To bring the 10 million tourists Morocco expects by 2010, the country has to increase its airline passengers to 15 million per year from seven million currently," Reuters quoted Karim Ghellab, Transport Minister, on Wednesday, in a statement to the Moroccan daily L'economiste.
By virtue of this agreement, Moroccan air carriers can fly to and through any of the airports in Europe. Reciprocally, according to the agreement, Moroccan airports are open to all European carriers.
To arrive or transit in a European airport, Moroccan flights must depart from Morocco and similarly, European flights must depart from Europe if they want to fly to Moroccan destinations.
L'economiste raised the issue of the impact of competition that the country's carrier Royal Air Maroc (RAM) has to face when the open sky agreement comes come into force next year.
However, the airline Chief Executive Officer Mohamed Berrada told MAP news agency that the agreement will spawn healthy competition for efficient companies.
"The competition will not play out on Morocco only. That competition will play out in the EU as well. For us, competition is a factor of progress," Reuters quoted Berrada as saying.