Nearly 10.6 million passengers used Moroccan airports in 2006, a solid increase of 13.85% from 2005. The statistics released by the airport authority ONDA include a 6.18% rise in actual air traffic to 164,727 movements.
The top airport from a traffic perspective was Casablanca's Mohammed V international airport with more than 41 of air traffic, also up 9.94% from 2005. From a passenger standpoint, their numbers via Mohammed V jumped by 13.81% to 5.07 million. After Casablanca was the Marrakech airport with almost 29,000 rotations, a 6.37% rise from 2005. However, the rise in passenger traffic, driven by the tourism industry, grew at the faster rate of 20.57% to 2.669 million. The third busiest airport was Agadir's El Massira with 17,117 rotations in 2006, also up 6.37% and passenger traffic up 9.06% to 1.44 million.
The other top airports ranked in descending order are Ibn Battouta of Tangier, Rabat-Sal, Fes-Sass, Oujda-Angad, and Laayoune, all of which registered positive growth. Poor performers were Ouarzazate, Dakhla, and Errachidia.
© The North Africa Journal 2007
