Will Morocco-china Corridor Revitalise Air Links?

Royal Air Maroc RAM and China Southern Airlines signed a memorandum of understanding in March to strengthen their cooperation and build an "air corridor" to respond to the growing travel demand between China and Africa.

The goal is to offer travellers a wider variety of travel options, leveraging China Southern's extensive Asian network and RAM's strong presence across the African continent. The airlines say that it will help avoid passengers having to make complex connections via Europe or the Middle East to get to their final destinations. According to the MOU, CSA and RAM will establish a code-sharing partnership, and will also cooperate in passenger and cargo transportation resources and third-party businesses.

This alliance represents "an important step in strengthening air connectivity between Africa and China," according to Hamid Addou, President and CEO of RAM.

Addou added that both companies "are committed to offering travel experiences that foster closer ties between Africa and China and facilitate access to Morocco for Chinese tourists."

"It's an agreement between two companies that are important, and each at their own level - one in Asia and the other in Africa," Geoffroy Bouvet, president of the Association of Professional Aviation Aircrew and a former Boeing-777 captain, told African Business .