Israeli airlines El Al and Israir will launch direct flights to Morocco over the weekend, it has been announced.
The news comes as Foreign Ministry Director-General Alon Ushpiz is in Rabat this week to discuss bilateral issues including air travel.
“The flights operated by Israeli and Moroccan airlines will significantly promote tourism and business traffic between the countries,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.
El Al said it would be offering flights from Ben Gurian International Airport in Tel Aviv to Mohammed V airport in Casablanca, and Menara airport in Marrakech. El Al said that the “flights to Morocco would take about five hours each way, and ticket prices would start at $499 for a round trip.”
Morocco is one of four Arab countries, along with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan, to normalise ties with Israel in a deal brokered by former U.S. President Donald Trump.
But the pace of normalisation has been slower in Morocco than in Bahrain or the UAE. Neither Israel nor Morocco have opened embassies or appointed ambassadors yet, although each one has a diplomatic mission in the other’s country.
However, Israel and Morocco have had a long history of secret ties, followed by low-level ties from 1994-2000.
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