In anticipation of the restoration of the direct Casablanca-Beijing line on 20 January 2025, Royal Air Maroc (RAM) signed several conventions with major Chinese travel agencies during a ceremony organised Wednesday evening in Beijing.
In total, 16 conventions were concluded by Abderrahman Brahimi, Director for Morocco, Maghreb, Middle East, and Asia at RAM, and Adil Khalloufi, RAM representative in China, with consolidators and travel agencies specialising in the Morocco destination.
"We have signed contracts for long-term allotments in terms of seats on our direct Casablanca-Beijing flights, which will allow us to strengthen our partnerships with the network of Chinese travel agencies and guarantee a good occupancy rate capable of strengthening the Casablanca-Beijing line," indicated Mr. Brahimi in a statement to MAP.
This signing ceremony marks the conclusion of long discussions with our old and new Chinese partners, he welcomed, stressing that these partnerships testify to a strong demand from Chinese travellers for the Morocco destination.
Initially launched on 16 January 2020, the Casablanca-Beijing line had been suspended a few weeks later due to the health crisis.
It will be restored from 20 January 2025, at a rate of three frequencies per week. Flights departing from Casablanca will be carried out on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays at 16:20 (local time) for a landing the next day at Beijing International Airport at 11:55 (local time).
Departures from Beijing will, for their part, be carried out on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays at 13:55 (local time) for an arrival in Casablanca at 20:10 (local time).
The flights will be operated by "Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner" type aircraft with a capacity of 302 seats, including 26 in Business Class.
The restoration of this line is part of the general strategic plan 2024-2037 of RAM, aiming to facilitate, develop, and enrich exchanges between Morocco and China, explained Mr. Brahimi.
In this sense, he affirmed that the national airline plans to gradually increase the frequency of its flights to Beijing, to go from three to seven weekly links.
RAM also plans to extend its network to other Chinese metropolises, notably Shanghai and Guangzhou, destinations identified as potentially profitable both for passenger transport and for freight, he added.
"The direct Casablanca-Beijing air link of RAM concretises the bilateral agreements concluded during the historic visit of His Majesty King Mohammed VI to China in 2016, which had notably led to the visa exemption for Chinese nationals travelling to Morocco," noted Mr. Brahimi.
The Royal Visit to China marked a turning point in bilateral relations, giving rise to numerous exchanges of delegations between the two countries in the industrial, economic, and cultural fields, he maintained, noting that the direct service of RAM to the Chinese capital is part of the strengthening of this dynamic, by offering a more practical alternative to flights transiting through European or Middle Eastern hubs.
A gala dinner was organised on this occasion, in the presence notably of representatives of the Moroccan embassy in China, journalists, and Chinese and Moroccan personalities from various backgrounds.
Intervening during this event, the Moroccan ambassador to China, Abdelkader El Ansari, stressed that the direct Casablanca-Beijing line of RAM responds to a real need to accompany the dynamic of Sino-Moroccan bilateral relations, both in terms of economic and commercial exchanges and human exchanges.
The restoration of this line is also part of a broader strategy aiming to strengthen relations between China and the African continent, he argued.
He also highlighted the positioning of Casablanca airport as a major hub between Asia, Europe, and North America, on the one hand, and about forty African destinations, on the other.
This ambition is reinforced by the recent distinction of RAM, elected best airline in Africa for the second consecutive year, thus strengthening its credibility on the international market, concluded the ambassador.
The representatives of RAM then presented the strategy and vision of the Moroccan airline concerning the prospects for tourism development between the two countries.
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