Royal Air Maroc (RAM) and China Southern Airlines signed a memorandum in March to strengthen cooperation and build an “air corridor” to meet the growing travel demand between China and Africa.
The goal is to provide travelers with a wide range of travel options and leverage the broad Asian network of southern China and the strong presence of RAM across the African continent. Airlines say it helps avoid having to make complicated connections to reach their final destination through Europe and the Middle East. According to the MOU, CSA and RAM will establish code sharing partnerships and cooperate with passenger and freight transport resources as well as third-party businesses.
According to Hamid Addou, RAM's president and CEO, the alliance represents “an important step in strengthening the air connection between Africa and China.”
Addou added that the two companies are “committed to providing travel experiences that promote close relations between Africa and China and promote access to Morocco for Chinese tourists.”
“This is an agreement between two important companies and their respective levels, one between Africa in Asia and one in Africa,” Geoffroy Bouvet, president of the Professional Aviation Association Association and former Boeing 777 captain, told African businesses.
“While it's not a traditional alliance like SkyTeam, Star Alliance, OneWorld, etc., this partnership can provide a seamless experience for its customers. They want a single point of responsibility.”
Such a contract will make functions like “bicycle wheels” work. “The hub serves as a central point connecting different routes,” he said.
“If an airline is focused on the airport and builds connections from there, it's essential that they link hubs. This is what the Alliance does. They connect the two hubs and agree to fares and revenue share, interlining and codeshare,” he said.
Lam has already resumed its direct link between Morocco and China in January 2025, linking Casablanca and Beijing with a direct route run by the national airline three times a week.
World Cup 2030 takeoff
The deal is part of Moroccan ambitions to serve the increased traffic at the landing for the 2030 FIFA World Cup, co-hosted with Spain and Portugal, and is expected to attract a significant number of Asian tourists.
Morocco plans to significantly improve and increase its infrastructure over the next few years. According to the Moroccan Airport Authority (ONDA), Mohammed V Airport in Casablanca is expected to increase its capacity from 15 million to 35 million by 2029, thanks to the construction of a new terminal thanks to an investment of $1.55 billion by 2029.
According to Onda, it is already one of Africa's busiest airports, handling roughly 11 million transportation in 2024.
According to Bouvet, this partnership, and the country that is “geographically well-located,” gives Morocco a relative advantage in air travel. If this partnership works, the flow between the two regions could be significantly increased.
Furthermore, given the development of the wider African aviation sector, RAM is considering partnering with other major opportunities on the continent, he said.
“Kenya Airlines and Ethiopian airlines have been able to achieve great growth, even if they didn't have the best geographical positioning, so there's clearly an opportunity to move here,” he said.
But he said, “It requires more partnerships than just one thing. But you have to start somewhere.”
China's Air Silk Road
Mou says Ram and China Southern are looking into opportunities for cooperation in cargo and related activities as part of China's “Air Silk Road.”
More broadly, it is one of many projects in Africa supporting China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Originally announced by President XI in 2013, the BRI is a transcontinental project that connects China with parts of Southeast Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, Russia, Europe and Africa.
CSA vice president Qu Guangji said the deal will help boost China's Belt & Road initiative.
“This MOU's signature is an important milestone for China Southern Aviation in response to the Belt and Road Initiative and represents a new starting point for cooperation between China Southern Aviation and Royal Airmallock,” he said.
Other African airlines have been working hard in recent years to boost air freight with China. Since 2020, the Ethiopian airline's freight business represents more than 532,000 tonnes of exports to China and imports approaching 200,000 tonnes, Carrier said in a press release. The airline has boosted freight transport during Covid-19, in response to a sharp drop in passenger demand.
In the first half of 2024, “e-commerce transport across China-Africa borders exceeded 13,000 tonnes, achieving leaps and bounds in the same period in 2019 or before Covid-19,” said Aman Wore Gurum, China's Director of Ethiopia Aviation.
In 2024, “annual air freight volume between China and Africa is expected to increase by 46% at pre-pandemic levels,” he added.
“Without connectivity, economic development is impossible,” Bouvet said.
“At some point, there is no antiterm in the fact that air transport will be the first step in economic development.”
assignment
However, Bouvet highlights some challenges.
Bouvet said there was “absolutely a huge difference in scale” between Lam and southern China and the two countries.
According to Bouvet, the ratio of the two fleets is nearly 15:1 as southern China operates more than 850 passengers and cargo aircraft (“giant machines”) and 55.
Additionally, “The idea of creating a hub is nothing new,” Bouvet said. “When we were traveling from Central Africa to Northern countries, we often went through South Africa.”
However, he warned that South African aviation, which had grown significantly in the past, is facing a raft of well-known challenges after being mostly liquidated. Even hub status cannot guarantee sustainable profitability.
Despite Lam's large position on the continent, “there is a competition with East Africa, because when you come from Asia, going to Morocco and then going back to the rest of Africa is not the shortest route,” he said.
Nevertheless, participation in southern China could bring a large potential new market for Morocco. According to Statista, the airline is ranked the fifth largest in the world in terms of passenger volume, serving 152 million passengers in 2021.
African Airlines' boost
According to the African Aviation Association, the number of seats offered by African airlines rose 12.6% between March 2023 and March 2024, reaching 16.1 million. This growth generated the airline's revenue of $1.83 billion in January 2024, up 14.75% from November 2023.
But Bouvet said there are still substantial opportunities for the region to grow.
“We shouldn't think of a fixed size cake,” he said.
“Air transport in Africa is limited at this point, and there is no network that allows for economic development within the region. It is clear that infrastructure is a key point for all development.”
Such a partnership will allow “the cake slices to grow and everything Africa can develop, and air transport will also grow.”
“So everyone can benefit and even get even bigger slices,” he concludes.
