Royal Air Maroc

Royal Air Maroc الخطوط الملكية المغربية
IATA code :	AT
ICAO code :	R.A.M.
Call sign :	ROYALAIR MAROC
Founding:	1957
Seat:	Casablanca , Morocco
Turnstile :	Casablanca airport
Home airport :	Casablanca airport
IATA prefix code :	147
Management:	Abdelhamid Addou ( CEO )
Alliance :	Oneworld Alliance
Frequent Flyer Program :	Safar Flyer
Fleet size:	60 (+ 2 orders)
Aims:	National and international
Website:	www.royalairmaroc.com

Royal Air Maroc , RAM for short , Arabic الخطوط الملكية المغربية, DMG al-Ḫuṭūṭ al-Malakiyya al-Maġribiyya , is the Moroccan national airline based in Casablanca and based at Casablanca Airport . She is a member of the Arab Air Carriers Organization .

Royal Air Maroc joined the Oneworld Alliance in April 2020 .

history

First years

The company was formed in 1953 from the merger of Compagnie Cherifienne des Transports Aeriens (CCTA) (founded in 1946 as Air Atlas ) and Air Maroc (founded in 1948). The flight operations were initially carried out with three-engine Junkers Ju 52 / 3m , Sud-Ouest Bretagne , Douglas DC-3 and Curtiss C-46 , which were, however, supplemented after a short time by Douglas DC-4 and Lockheed Constellations .

Soon after the country gained independence , the name was changed to Royal Air Maroc and the company began operating international flights from its home base in Casablanca in 1957 .

The jet age

In 1960 RAM put its first jet aircraft into service: Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelles . They were used on the important European routes to Paris and Madrid, among others, until they were replaced by the Boeing 727 . At the same time Boeing 707s joined the fleet in order to be able to serve longer routes and those with greater demand. Boeing 737-200s were procured for the short haul . At the end of the 1970s, Royal Air Maroc maintained a network of flights that included Europe , North America , the Middle East and North Africa .

The 1980s and 1990s

RAM continued its expansion in the 1980s. New routes were opened, existing ones expanded, and frequencies increased. Boeing 757s were added to the fleet from 1986 to replace the oldest Boeing 727s . With the expansion of Mohammed V Airport in Casablanca in 1984, the company received a modern home base.

At the beginning of the 1990s, the last Boeing 707s were phased out and new, more efficient Boeing 737s of the -400 and -500 series were introduced in order to increase the frequencies, especially on European routes. The last Boeing 727s left the fleet by the mid-1990s . In order to be able to serve the North American routes more efficiently, a single Boeing 747-400 was taken over by Air France. Royal Air Maroc also expanded towards previously under-served African airports.

Development since 2000

With the increasing number of passengers and newly opened routes, as well as the pressure of rising oil prices , there was a need to replace older aircraft. In 2000, RAM decided to order aircraft from two major aircraft manufacturers: 20 Boeing 737 NGs and four Airbus A321s . New routes to West and Central Africa were opened and a code-share agreement was signed with Delta Air Lines .

The company's business plan has changed. Instead of primarily serving the needs of tourists and Moroccans living abroad, as before, the hub function of the Casablanca home base has now come to the fore, in order to enable transfer connections between European and African airports. In 2002 the company decided to lease two Boeing 767s .

Two years later, RAM reacted to the low-cost trend and founded the low-cost airline Atlas Blue , headquartered in Marrakech . The subsidiary was initially given six Boeing 737-400s , in the meantime three Airbus A321s from the parent company also flew for Atlas Blue. A year later, RAM ordered four Boeing 787-8s .

In 2006, Royal Air Maroc and Atlas Blue together carried a record four million passengers.

In 2009 two more used Boeing 767-300s were taken over.

The operation of the subsidiary Atlas Blue was discontinued in 2010, the routes were largely taken over by Royal Air Maroc.

On August 19, 2011, the Royal Air Maroc subsidiary Royal Air Maroc Express took over its first two ATR 72-600 and is thus the first operator of the revised version of this model.

From 2012 the A321 was decommissioned and the fleet was standardized on machines from the manufacturer Boeing. On March 14, 2013, the Boeing 737-800 CN-RGN, the 50th Boeing 737, was taken over.

Destinations

Royal Air Maroc serves from Casablanca international Algiers , Brussels , Rio de Janeiro , Montreal , Cairo , Dakar , Praia , Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle and Paris-Orly , Abu Dhabi , Jeddah , Istanbul , Madrid , New York , Beijing Airport Daxing and São Paulo .

In German-speaking countries , Berlin-Tegel , Frankfurt am Main , Munich , Geneva , Zurich and, seasonally, Düsseldorf are served.

Codeshare
Codeshare agreements exist with Air France , Brussels Airlines , Egypt Air , Etihad Airways , Iberia , jetBlue , Turkish Airlines , Qatar Airways and Saudi Arabian Airlines .

fleet

Boeing 737-800 of Royal Air Maroc

Boeing 767-300ER of Royal Air Maroc

Boeing 787-9 of Royal Air Maroc

Active fleet

As of March 2020, the Royal Air Maroc fleet consists of 60 aircraft with an average age of 10.7 years:

Aircraft type	number	ordered	Remarks	Seats ( Business / Economy )	Average age (May 2020)
ATR 72-600	6th		operated for Royal Air Maroc Express	70 (- / 70)	6.9 years
Boeing 737-700	6th			114 (12/102)	19.0 years
Boeing 737-800	31			159 (12/147) 171 (12/159)	12.8 years
Boeing 737 MAX 8	2	2	inactive	156 (12/144)	1.3 years
Boeing 767-300ER	2			236 (12/224)	19.7 years
Boeing 787-8	5			274 (18/256)	4.3 years
Boeing 787-9	4th			302 (24/278)	1.1 years
Embraer 190	4th			96 (12/84)	5.5 years
total	60	2			10.7 years

Former aircraft types

Former Royal Air Maroc Airbus A321-200

Royal Air Maroc has already used the following types of aircraft in the past:

• ATR 42-300
• Airbus A320-200
• Airbus A321-200
• Boeing 737-200 / 300/400/500
• Boeing 747-100 / 200/400 / SP
• Boeing 757-200

Incidents

• On April 1, 1970, a Sud Aviation Caravelle III of Royal Air Maroc ( aircraft registration CN-CCV ) crashed while approaching Casablanca-Nouasseur airport ( Morocco ) and burned out. Apparently, control was lost in the fog near Berrechid , 9 kilometers from the airport but only about 500 feet (150 meters) high. Of the 82 occupants, 61 were killed, 5 crew members and 56 passengers.

• On December 22, 1973, a Caravelle VI-N of the Belgian Sobelair (OO-SRD) , which was leased by Royal Air Maroc, was approaching Tanger-Boukhalef airport in the dark and rain near the city of Tétouan in the Mellaline mountain in the Rif -Mountains flown. All 106 occupants of the machine were killed.

• On November 3, 1986, a Super King Air 200 crashed on a training flight at Casablanca Airport . The four people on board were killed in the accident.
• On February 6, 1989, a Vickers Vanguard leased from the French Inter Cargo Service had an accident while taking off at Marseille Airport . The plane rolled over the end of the runway and crashed into the Mediterranean. The three occupants of the cargo plane were killed in the accident.
• On August 21, 1994, the autopilot of an ATR 42 launched in Agadir was switched off at an altitude of 16,000 feet. The plane took a dive and crashed to the ground. All 44 people on board died. The presumed cause of the accident was a suicide by the flight captain (see also Royal Air Maroc flight 630 ) .
• On March 26, 2003, a Boeing 737-400 crashed while landing at Oujda-Angads Airport . The machine touched down next to the runway. The landing gear broke. Due to the damage, the aircraft was written off as a total loss. The 60 people on board survived the accident unharmed.

See also

• List of airlines

Web links

Commons : Royal Air Maroc  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Royal Air Maroc website
• Data on the airline Royal Air Maroc in the Aviation Safety Network (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Morocco: HM the King Appoints Abdelhamid Addou As CEO of Royal Air Maroc , accessed on August 17, 2016
2. ^ Royal Air Maroc to join oneworld , oneworld press release dated December 5, 2018
3. ↑ Royal Air Maroc is officially Oneworld's newest member, accessed on April 2, 2020
4. ^ John Stroud: European Transport Aircraft since 1910. Putnam & Company, London 1966.
5. ↑ royalairmaroc.com - route network accessed on January 22, 2015
6. ↑ royalairmaroc.com - partner , accessed on January 22, 2017
7. ↑ ^{a b c} Royal Air Maroc Fleet Details and History. In: planespotters.net. May 6, 2020, accessed on May 6, 2020 . 
8. ↑ boeing.com - Orders and Deliveries (English) accessed on August 17, 2016
9. ↑ royalairmaroc.com - cabin seating plan accessed on January 22, 2015
10. ↑ ch-aviation - Royal Air Maroc (English) accessed on August 17, 2016
11. ↑ Air-Britain Archive: Casualty compendium part 106 (English), March 2008, p. 2008/48.
12. ^ Accident report Caravelle III CN-CCV , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 3, 2020.
13. ^ Accident report Caravelle VI-N OO-SRD , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on December 12, 2018.
14. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report of the accident of November 3, 1986 in the Aviation Safety Network (English)
15. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report of the accident on February 6, 1989 in the Aviation Safety Network (English)
16. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report of the accident of August 21, 1994 in the Aviation Safety Network (English)
17. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report of the accident of March 26, 2003 in the Aviation Safety Network (English)