The Moroccan government grants permission for several flights to bring back stranded Dutch people. This was reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Since last night, a flight ban has been imposed between Morocco, the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom. The Moroccan government took this decision due to the situation of Corona in the three countries. As a result, an unknown number of Dutch were stuck in Morocco.
Short-term
The Dutch ambassador to Morocco spoke today with the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the stranded Dutch. “In the conversation, Morocco stated that it was ready to allow a number of short-term commercial flights to bring the Dutch home,” the Foreign Ministry in The Hague wrote.
It was not clear yet the number of flights and the date of departure.
Clarity tomorrow
Transavia expects more clarity on repatriation flights tomorrow. “We’ve already applied for these flights yesterday, so we’ve already prepared ourselves. We weren’t expecting permission to actually be granted and we’re very happy with that,” says a company spokesperson.
The airline estimates that about 3,500 passengers from Transavia are stranded in Morocco. “But this number cannot be determined exactly because we hear that some travelers are already leaving Morocco in a different way.” Since the flight ban applies only to and from the Netherlands, Germany and the UK, travelers can still return via, for example, Belgium or France.
Yesterday, flights departed from Schiphol Airport for Morocco. Passengers were already afraid that the return trip would be difficult: