Royal Air Maroc, Morocco’s flag carrier, has requested proposals from aircraft manufacturers to expand its fleet.
The statement was made by the company’s CEO, Abdelhamid Addou, last week. According to him, the bidding was opened on April 15, but without revealing which manufacturers were notified.
Boeing appears as the most likely candidate to supply the aircraft as Royal Air Maroc’s fleet currently consists of nine 787 and 30 737 jets, including two 737 MAX 8.
In addition to them, there are six ATR 72 turboprops and four Embraer E190 jets.
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Despite this, it will not be surprising if Airbus takes the order or most of it, which would involve aircraft with approximately 100 to 300 seats.
In October, Addou commented that the plan is to quadruple the fleet, going from 52 to 200 aircraft.
One of the reasons for this is the FIFA World Cup, which will be held in 2030 in Morocco together with Portugal and Spain.
30 million tourists per year are expected in the African country within six years.
Chances for Embraer?
The search for new aircraft could be good news for Embraer. The Brazilian manufacturer is already a customer of Royal Air Maroc and could introduce the E2 family, which offers greater range and capacity as well as a lower operating cost.
The E195-E2, for example, could serve destinations on the African continent and southern Europe, as well as tourist islands in the Atlantic.
With the order books full and the difficulties Boeing is experiencing in producing its aircraft, the less overloaded assembly line could be an attraction offered by Embraer.
Airbus, however, has been quite aggressive in its proposals and could supply jets ranging from A220, A320neo to A330neo or A350, in an advantageous package.
The CEO of Royal Air Maroc, however, did not provide any deadline for a decision to purchase new planes.
