Spotting at Marrakech Airport

As you may have read in my earlier trip report, I passed through Marrakech, Morocco recently on holiday.

The flights were with Ryanair from London Luton. On the return, I explored a bit to see what spotting opportunities there are at the airport, and what kind of flights are on offer.

First of all, at the moment there’s a new terminal under construction to the east of the current main terminal. This, I believe, is on the site of an older, recently demolished, terminal. No doubt this will have similar views to the existing terminal once complete.

The airport has a single runway, 10/28, and roads between the airport and the city pass close to the end of runway 28. The pavements alongside these roads are perfectly suitable for photographing aircraft just before landing.

There is also an area of waste ground at the end of runway 10 which is suitable for watching movements.

Outside the terminal building there are few opportunities to see what’s on the ground, save for a small gap to the right of the building which looks towards the runway.

Once inside the terminal, the only opportunities to see aircraft are once you’ve passed through to the departure lounge. This upstairs gate area runs the length of the building, with all stands visible. You can also see the runway, and get limited views of the military base on the far side of the runway (including the preserved Fairchild C-119G Boxcar, CNA-MH).

Not visible from the terminal are the parking stands at the extreme eastern end of the ramp, where executive and general aviation aircraft park. If you are departing on runway 28, sit on the right side of the aircraft and you should see these aircraft as you taxi past.

Marrakech is mainly a tourist destination, and operators are generally low-cost and leisure airlines from countries in Europe. The main operators are easyJet, Jetairfly, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Royal Air Marco, and Ryanair. A decent number of bizjet movements also pass through.