Royal Air Maroc is hoping its recently reinstated flights to Beijing will attract a range of exports out of Africa.
The service restarted earlier this year and operates three times per week between Casablanca, (CMN) and Beijing (PKX) using a Boeing 787-9 aircraft, which will offer around 10 tons of capacity per flight.
The airline had previously regularly flown to Beijing before the Covid pandemic and is hoping to expand its operation to other Chinese cities.
The airline said that cargo demand into Beijing is strong given the "growing Chinese interest in the vast array of African exports”.
These exports range from integrated circuits, electrical control panels and conductors, transistors, mineral and metallic products, copper products, zinc ore, copper-zinc alloy, copper anodes for electrolytic refining, silver ore, lead ore, copper scrap, aluminium alloy, and manganese ore, to textiles, accessories, leather goods, garments, fish oil, frozen fruits and vegetables, and agricultural products.
“Reinstating Chinese services was an obvious and natural decision as goods exchange is important,” said Yassine Berrada, vice president of cargo at Royal Air Maroc.
“We chose China’s largest airport in Beijing as our starting point, since demand is strongest here both in terms of passenger and cargo. In the future, we plan to expand connections to other major Chinese cities such as Shanghai and Guangzhou.”
He added that the airline is hoping to link the service to its flights to Brazil for transit cargo.
“For many centuries, Morocco’s geographical location has rendered it the perfect gateway for shipping trade to Africa and Europe,” said Berrada.
“At Royal Air Maroc, we are proud to go even further, building Casablanca up as a true air bridge between Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Our newly launched, thrice-weekly service out of China’s largest airport, not only provides a highly efficient service for Chinese goods destined for Africa, but also offers a direct onward connection to Brazil, thanks to our recently commenced Sao Paolo (GRU) route.”
In China, the airline is represented by Globe Air Cargo China, a subsidiary of ECS Group.
Goods expected to be exported out of China to Morocco include: Electricals, electronic equipment, furniture, lighting signs, prefabricated buildings, iron/steel goods, knitted or crocheted fabrics, manmade filaments, toys, games, and sports equipment among other commodities.
"Many of these will enjoy direct onforwarding to Brazil via Morocco, on board Royal Air Maroc’s recently launched CMN-GRU flights," the airline said.
