ONDA was established in July 1990 under parliamentary law 14–89. Prior to then, Morocco's airports were administered by the Moroccan Ministry of transport. One year later, ONDA inaugurated Al Massira Airport in Agadir. On 15 September 2003, Abdelhanine Benallou was nominated as the new general manager of ONDA.
Serious airport related accidents
Although Morocco has its share in aircraft accidents, the number of serious incidents with fatalities directly related to an airport (approach, take-off or on ground accidents) is very low. The total number of accidents with fatalities in Morocco is 19, resulting in 792 deaths.[1] The same numbers for events directly related to airports are 5 and 171, respectively.[2] The majority of the airport related incidents happened long ago, with the last incident occurring in 1986.
Milestones
Menara Airport in Marrakech celebrated the arrival of its two millionth passenger on 23 November 2005.
ONDA helped in supervising the construction of Yasser Arafat International Airport, which Mohammed V International Airport is twinned with. It also organized training programs for Palestinian engineers in Morocco in 1997 just months before the inauguration of the airport in Gaza in December 1998.
Apart from these larger plans, some other smaller changes are planned around many airports around the country.
Salon Convives de Marque
Under the name Salon Convives de Marque, ONDA offers VIP lounge services at some of the airports it manages. Services offered include access to the VIP lounge, assistance during check-in, retrieving luggage, boarding and assistance with the 'formalities' (passport-control, security etc.) ('fast lanes' or priority boarding).
The VIP service is not linked to any specific airline; anyone can apply for membership. Currently the VIP service is offered at the following airports: Mohammed V (Casablanca), Rabat-Salé, Fes-Saïss, Agadir, Marrakech and Tangier.[4]
Access to the VIP service can be bought by individuals (18.000,- Dirham), couples (24.000 Dh) and companies/organisations (60.000 Dh + 150 Dh per user).[5]
Statistics
As the national operator for all public airports in Morocco, the information the authority published on flight movements gives a strong indication of the development of visitors and flights to the country. The cargo figures also indicate something about the economy.
The ONDA publishes monthly reports which contain the number of passengers per airport and an overall total of aircraft movements (landings and take-offs) and cargo figures for the whole country.
Despite the international crisis,[clarification needed] which hit Europe and North America the most, the Moroccan airport authority reports continuously increasing passenger numbers, aircraft movements and processed cargo.
Trends
The summer months are by far the busiest months for passengers. High volumes of passengers travel to the main tourist locations as Marrakesh and Agadir, and the airports in the North of Morocco also see increasing passenger numbers. Moroccans who live in Europe tend to visit family during the summer, and, although many of them still come over by ferry, increasing numbers of people travel by air. Other indications of this are:
In the summer months, at least once a week the scheduled flights operated by Royal Air Maroc use a Boeing 747 instead of the normal Boeing 737.
Other cheap airlines like Jet4you, Germanwings and AirArabiaMaroc operate scheduled flights to the Northern cities like Oujda, Nador, Fes, Al-Hoceima and Tanger.
The overall increase in passengers in 2010, compared to 2009, was +14,93%.[6] This trend continued in 2011, although not as dramatically. The year-on-year growth in passengernumbers in July 2011 was still +6,28%.[7]
Busiest airports
The main international airport, Mohammed V in Casablanca, handles over 40% of all aircraft movements (landings and take-offs) and the second airport, Marrakesh, handles another 15%.[6][7]
Cargo
Unlike the passenger numbers, the amount of cargo to and from Moroccan airports is quite stable after an initial drop around 2008.[citation needed]
Origin
By far the majority of traffic comes from Europe, where France is responsible for 30-35% of all traffic and the rest of Europe produces 40-45% of all traffic. Domestic flights are responsible for 10% of traffic.
Other destinations to/from Morocco are North America (2-2,5%), Middle & Far East (5%) and Africa (Maghreb: 3,5; and the rest of Africa: 6%)[6][7]
References
^Figures from Aviation Saf. database. report Morocco. Retrieved July 27, 2008
^Airport related incidents from same source. Only accidents from 1950 counted and only when directly related to Moroccan airports (APR, Init clb etc).
