-
Royal Air Maroc
- IATA/ICAO Code:
- AT/RAM
- Airline Type:
- Full Service Carrier
- Year Founded:
- 1953
- Alliance:
- oneworld
- CEO:
- Abdelhamid Addou
- Hub(s):
- Casablanca Airport
- Country:
- Morocco
Royal Air Maroc and Emirates, the flag carriers of Morocco and the UAE respectively, have signed a comprehensive codeshare agreement that will catalyze an extensive partnership between the two airlines. Passengers on each carrier will soon benefit from greater connectivity between their respective networks.
A big deal
As announced by the airlines in a statement published this morning, Emirates has joined forces with oneworld member Royal Air Maroc to establish its latest codeshare partnership. While the Dubai-based UAE flag carrier is not part of an alliance itself, it has codeshare agreements in place with airlines across the globe.
The deal will come into place later this month, and substantially increase the levels of connectivity between Emirates' and Royal Air Maroc's networks. Indeed, Emirates explains that "both airlines will place their marketing codes on each other’s flights between Casablanca and Dubai to a total of 209 combined destinations." Adnan Kazim, its Chief Commercial Officer, welcomed the deal, stating:
"We are delighted to enhance our partnership with Royal Air Maroc to a codeshare and offer our customers an unparalleled selection of destinations across Morocco, and a huge choice of onwards points in Africa. This partnership will further help strengthen our network connectivity, providing leisure and business travelers with more choice and convenience when connecting between both of our airlines."
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The finer details
But what does the codeshare mean for passengers? The primary benefit is the fact that, by codesharing on the Dubai-Casablanca route, passengers will be able to book single-ticket, multi-leg itineraries that involve a transfer at one of the participating airlines' hubs.
For example, Emirates passengers coming from Dubai will get integrated access to 17 Moroccan destinations through Casablanca.
They will also benefit from greater connectivity to Royal Air Maroc's international network, which features 63 destinations, including 25 across North, West, and Central Africa. Meanwhile, Royal Air Maroc passengers traveling to Dubai will enjoy seamless transfers at the Middle Eastern hub to more than 130 destinations. Hamid Addou, the Chairperson and CEO of the Moroccan flag carrier, added that:
"We are very pleased to conclude this important partnership with Emirates which will contribute to the reinforcement of our traffic, and will offer our passengers a large set of destinations as well as a better customer experience thanks to optimized connections and end-to-end check-in, with international airport assistance within both airlines' networks."
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Emirates has served Casablanca for two decades
The launch of the codeshare agreement comes at a particularly apt time for Emirates, given that it has now been serving Royal Air Maroc's Casablanca hub for 20 years. During this time, the airline has transported 3.4 million passengers between the two cities, and it is currently operating eight flights a week on this corridor. Meanwhile, Royal Air Maroc supplements these with four weekly rotations.
What do you make of this codeshare agreement? Have you ever flown with Emirates and/or Royal Air Maroc? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments!