Ryanair’s latest fight over airport charges could lead to drop in traffic in Morocco

Europe's largest no-frills carrier has unveiled plans to cut 34 weekly flights from its schedule to and from Morocco in a row over airport charges. The cut represents about 14% of its current capacity to/from Morocco and will result in Ryanair's capacity share in the Western Europe-Morocco market dropping 1 percentage point to about 16%. The new cut follows cuts implemented over the last nine months which have already reduced Ryanair's share of capacity in the Western Europe-Morocco market by 4ppt from about 21% to 17%.

While relatively small in the broader Moroccan market, the new cuts are significant because Ryanair is the largest low-cost carrier in the country and is the second largest carrier in the key Morocco-Europe market. The dispute with Morocco's state owned airports authority ONDA (Office National Des Aéroports) could potentially lead to further capacity cuts by Ryanair, leading to a potential drop in traffic at ONDA airports and impacting Morocco's important tourism industry.