MOROCCO – Morocco’s national airline Royal Air Maroc (RAM) has announced plans to lay off a significant number of is personnel and intention to liquate a number of its planes as part of COVID19 austerity measures.

The national carrier for Morocco also has plans to shutdown of certain agencies to reduce the operational costs.

The austerity measures by Royal Air Maroc were made public during a meeting between the management of RAM, staff representatives, and the representatives of the National Air Transport Federation (FNTA).

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Royal Air Maroc Abdelhamid Addou stated that the layoff plan would affect 858 jobs within RAM or 30% of its global workforce.

Royal Air Maroc explained that it had also set up a voluntary redundancy plan for employees aged above 57 years with 15 years of seniority.

The conditions and terms of this plan are still under negotiation, pending the approval of the airline’s senior management.

According to Morocco World News, the discharge concerns one-third of the pilots (180 pilots), 30% of the cabin crew (stewards), and approximately 13% of the ground personnel, including baggage handlers.

Royal Air Maroc is also set to proceed to sell 20 planes including 4 Embraers, 4 Dreamliner 787s, and a dozen B737 aircraft.

The RAM fleet currently boasts 59 aircraft including thirty-seven B737s, two B737 Max, grounded since the crash of Ethiopian Airlines in March 2019, one B767 Cargo, nine B787, four Embraer 190 and six ATR 72-212A.

The surging Covid19 pandemic is the worst crisis that the Royal Air Maroc has suffered the since its inception in 1957.

The Moroccan national flag carrier claims to have reportedly experienced $109.1 million in monthly losses since the closure of national borders and the declaration of the emergency state in mid-March.

Now with the drop in global tourism, Royal Air Maroc is predicted to lose 20% of its air traffic in 2020, prompting continued financial losses.

The sustainable resumption of normal air traffic activities is projected for the year 2023 and potentially for 2025, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

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