ARCHIVED - Corvera airport inaugurates flights to and from Oujda in Morocco this Friday

A new destination in north Africa is added to the flight information boards at Corvera

As activity begins to pick up again following the near standstill over the winter at the Region of Murcia International Airport in Corvera, a new route to and from the city of Oujda in Morocco is set to be added to the scheduling on Friday 18^th June as Air Arabia launch their first service in the Costa Cálida.

It has been announced that flights are to be operated every Monday and Friday during the summer, serving a population of over half a million in Oujda alone and over 2 million in the eastern region of the country. Many readers might not know much about this city near the border with Algeria, but it is a major conurbation within Morocco and is located in the south of Beni-Znassen mountains, some 55 kilometres from the Mediterranean coast – roughly the same distance as the city of Murcia.

Air Arabia is a low-cost airline based in the UAE which is also reported to be interested in establishing connections with destinations such as Casablanca, but the timing of the new service between Corvera and Oujda is a little unfortunate. At present relations between Spain and Morocco are extremely tense due to the conflict over migrants crossing into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta a month ago, with the Kingdom of Morocco accused of using the migration problem to bring pressure to bear on Spain over the issue of sovereignty in the Western Sahara.

Nonetheless, flights between the two countries are set to resume on Tuesday and the airline has pressed ahead with its plans: the first flight from Oujda is scheduled to land at Corvera on Friday before the return journey takes off at 22.30.

It is expected that not only will there be significant demand among Moroccans hoping to travel to Spain, but that Oujda will prove an interesting destination for the Murcianos, with its walled medieval city and a history stretching back to the 10^th century.

Image 2: Air Arabia's promotion for flights to Murcia