African cargo airline Royal Air Maroc Cargo has commenced direct flights from Casablanca, Morocco, to Beijing, China.
The maiden flight from Casablanca (CMN) to Beijing's Daxing International Airport (PKX) started on January 20, reinstating an essential Sino-Moroccan trade link.
Royal Air Maroc will offer three direct flights per week between CMN and PKX, utilizing Boeing 787-9 aircraft.
This adds 30 tons of weekly cargo uplift each way between China and Morocco.
The carrier noted that these scheduled, direct flights in both directions will ensure fast transit times for cargo customers, offer complete tracking transparency, and enable them to plan long-term transport solutions.
"For many centuries, Morocco's geographical location has rendered it the perfect gateway for shipping trade to Africa and Europe," said Yassine Berrada, VP Cargo at Royal Air Maroc.
"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," he added.
Royal Air Maroc operated regular flights to Beijing before the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Reinstating Chinese services was an obvious and natural decision as goods exchange is important," Berrada said.
"We chose China's largest airport in Beijing as our starting point since demand is strongest here both in terms of passenger and cargo," he added.
In the future, Berrada noted that Royal Air Maroc plans to expand connections to other major Chinese cities such as Shanghai and Guangzhou.
Cargo demand into Beijing is strong given the growing Chinese interest in the vast array of African exports ranging 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, aluminum alloy, and manganese ore, to textiles, accessories, leather goods, garments, fish oil, frozen fruits and vegetables, and agricultural products.
In China, Royal Air Maroc is represented by Globe Air Cargo China, a subsidiary of ECS Group.
The GSSA will be filling inbound Moroccan flights with Chinese goods such as 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.
Royal Air Maroc noted that many of these will enjoy direct onforwarding to Brazil via Morocco on board the carrier's recently launched CMN-GRU flights.
In addition, ECS Group will provide technological support using its proprietary solutions and enable access to CargoTech's comprehensive suite of digital tools — to enhance Royal Air Maroc's operational efficiency and maximize its cargo potential and market reach through data-driven insights.
"We are incredibly proud to support Royal Air Maroc in establishing this vital link between China and Morocco. Our dedicated teams at Globe Air Cargo China are committed to ensuring the success of this route by optimizing cargo flows and leveraging our advanced digital solutions," said
Adrien Thominet, Executive Chairman of ECS Group.
Royal Air Maroc Cargo flies on scheduled direct services to 82 destinations worldwide, including freighter-operated flights. It operates from its hub, located at Mohammed V airport, 30 minutes away from Casablanca.
Royal Air Maroc Cargo's freight terminal has two cold rooms, two 100-m2 safe rooms, and a cargo handling capacity of 200,000 tons.