Royal Air Maroc passengers stranded for 48 hours in Brussels, 35 hours in Amsterdam

Royal Air Maroc (RAM) flights to Europe and Africa remain very disrupted, with flights cancelled every day since July 20 due to social tensions within the Moroccan national airline.

In recent days, passengers, including families with children, have been stuck waiting for their flight. Some have waited more than 48 hours in Brussels, others more than 35 hours in Amsterdam, according to local media reports. It was not possible to obtain information from RAM, beyond the display of cancellations of the day on the website of the company, barred by a red banner “social tensions: risks of disruption“.

According to the Moroccan Airline Pilots Association (AMPL), negotiations with the management have been broken for 10 days. The RAM site announces six flights cancelled this Thursday for connections with Geneva, Madrid and Paris and “risk of disruption” on three other flights.

Last weekend was particularly chaotic, with nearly 30 flights cancelled between Saturday and Monday. According to the pilots, the blockage stems from a problem of chronic understaffing, with currently 520 pilots in operation and 86 unfilled positions.

“They make us responsible for the cancellations, but all the pilots are working normally and no one is on strike,” a member of AMPL who requested anonymity told AFP. According to him, pilots who “showed flexibility over days off” refuse to work overtime without an improvement on their working conditions and salary.

After a difficult period in 2011, RAM, which employs approximately 3,200 employees, returned to equilibrium in 2012 and has since embarked on a broad development plan on the African continent, with a total of 90 destinations across the world.