France has repatriated more than 20,000 people stranded in Morocco

More than 20,000 people stranded in Morocco have been repatriated to France on board special flights since Rabat’s decision to close its air borders with France due to the resumption of the Covid-19 pandemic. Among the passengers repatriated since November 25 are a majority of tourists, but also businessmen and “semi-residents”, who share their place of residence between Morocco and France, according to a French diplomatic source. Rabat decided on Friday 25, before the appearance of the new Omicron variant, to suspend “until further notice” regular flights to and from France due to the resurgence of the epidemic.

Special flights, subject to authorization by the Moroccan authorities, have been organized for people who have not been able to return to France. The companies Air France and Transavia have set up special flights from Morocco, and the national company Royal Air Maroc (RAM) has scheduled them to France until December 6.

We inform our Customers that special flights (subject to special authorization) from Morocco and to France will be scheduled between November 30, 2021 and December 06, 2021.
For more info, visit our website: https: //t.co/jn7dc49S0Q

– Royal Air Maroc (@RAM_Maroc) November 30, 2021

France is by far Morocco’s leading economic partner: more than 1.3 million Moroccans live in France and nearly 80,000 French people live in Morocco.

In addition, the low-cost airline TUIfly has announced that it will operate 18 special flights between December 1 and 5 to repatriate some 2 377 Belgian tourists still stuck on Moroccan territory, according to a press release. Since Monday, November 29 at midnight, all direct passenger flights to Morocco have been suspended for two weeks, “in order to preserve Morocco’s achievements in the fight against the pandemicThe company RAM, whose losses due to the cessation of activity during these two weeks are estimated at 750 million dirhams (71,797,500 euros), has also scheduled special flights for Canada, Spain and the Italy.

Morocco has recorded 14,776 deaths since the start of the pandemic.