Morocco will invest 870 million dirham ($89 million) to develop its air freight. This through an investment program that includes the creation of four air freight poles.

First is the central zone pole, located at Casablanca’s Mohammed V airport, in complementarity with the Rabat airport. Next is the northern zone pole, located at the Tangiers airport. Then come the southern zone pole at the Agadir airport, and the Eastern zone pole, at the Oudja airport.

These investments will be made in two stages. The first, in the short-term, for 430 million dirham ($44 million) and the second, in the mid-term, for 440 million dirham ($45 million).

The air freight development program is part of Morocco’s strategy to develop civil aviation which aims to reach 100,000 tons by 2020 and 182,000 tons by 2035.

This program comes as Morocco’s freight business expands. Truly, data from the Moroccan ministry of equipment, transport and logistics, shows that in 2015, the country’s freight volume grew by 18.7% due to the greater dynamic of air carriers. The Casablanca airport, which grew by 20.7% in 2015 and by 12% over the first four months of 2016, has treated 90% of the air freight.

On May 23, 2016, a 4-year (2016-2020) convention was signed in Rabat for the air freight development plan. This agreement was signed by various actors of the sector in order to reposition air transport and promote freight. These include Morocco’s ministry of equipment, transport and logistics, the national airports office, the general confederation of Morocco’s firms, transport federation CGEM, the Moroccan logistics development agency, the office of customs and indirect taxes and Royal Air Maroc.