São Paulo – Airports in Morocco registered record-breaking passenger traffic in 2016 with 18.2 million, according to the National Office of Airports (ONDA, in the French acronym). The data was published by news outlet Maghreb Arabe Presse (MAP).
According to MAP, passenger traffic rose 3.58% in comparison to the previous year; aircraft traffic rose 1.16% to 161,837 landings and takeoffs; and cargo volume increased 6.52% to 68,400 tons. The volume of cargo handled has been increasing since 2013.
The most significant traffic increases took place in the airports of Rabat-Salé (23.69%), Laâyoune Hassan I (19.95%) and Dakhla (20.96%). Rabat is the capital of the country and Laâyoune and Dakhla are in the Western Sahara, territory in the South controlled by Morocco.
However, the busiest Morrocan terminal is Casablanca, the country’s largest city. Passenger traffic at Mohammed V airport rose 5.36% last year in comparison to 2015, reaching 8.6 million. In the list of busiest terminals, it’s followed by the airports of Marrakech and Agadir – Massira.
However, there is a large gap in passenger traffic among the top three airports in the list. Casablanca accounted for 50.34% of the total, with Marrakech representing 18.05% and Agadir –Massira totaling 7.02%.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
