RAM’s first direct flight from Casablanca to Tel Aviv landed on Sunday (March 13) with a panel of Moroccan businessmen on board. This is the first direct link from Morocco to Israel which has been qualified as ” of history by internet users.
In December 2020, Israel and Morocco restored their relations under the “ Abraham Accords“. A process of ” standardization of relations between the Jewish state and several Arab countries, supported by the former Trump administration.
In a statement to the press, Abdelhamid Addou, CEO of Royal Air Maroc (RAM), said that ” this new air link will be a factor of rapprochement between Israel and Morocco. Our monarchy has always had very strong ties with the Jewish community. These flights are something natural since it is a question of reconnecting a family“.
In pictures, we reveal historic moments of the first Royal Air Maroc direct flight connecting Casablanca and Tel Aviv on Sunday, March 13th, 2022. ✈️ pic.twitter.com/BiqRpCuqjG
— Royal Air Maroc (@RAM_Maroc) March 14, 2022
In North Africa, Morocco’s Jewish community is one of the largest with some 700,000 Jews of Moroccan descent who have all maintained very strong ties with their country of origin.
On twitter, the representative of Israel in Morocco, David Govrin reacted to an advertisement in Casablanca, announcing the theft. ” It is comforting to see a large advertisement on a wall in Casablanca, for the first Royal Air Maroc flight to Tel Aviv “, he welcomed.
Internet users reacted enormously to this first flight directly linking Morocco to Israel. ” The first Royal Air Maroc flight arrived at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv from Casablanca, with a large economic delegation on board“, tweeted Israeli writer and journalist, Oren Kessler.
“The first Royal Air Maroc plane arrives at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, coming from Casablanca, with an important economic delegation on board.” https://t.co/HqJcWgH4Xd
—Oren Kessler (@OrenKessler) March 14, 2022
According to the foreign press, a code-sharing agreement was signed between RAM and the Israeli company El Al in order to ” to offer customers of both companies more options in terms of schedules and combinability between Marrakech, Casablanca and Tel-Aviv“.
Thus, four weekly flights will be scheduled between Mohammed-V airports in Casablanca and Ben-Gurion airports in Tel-Aviv before increasing to five flights per week. With these direct flights between the two countries, Morocco expects a tourist windfall of 200,000 Israeli visitors annually (50,000 in 2021).
.
