Ireland's advertising watchdog concluded that travelers could have been misled by Ryanair’s advertising of Dakhla - in occupied Western Sahara - as a "Moroccan adventure," creating the false impression that passengers were booking flights to Morocco. 

In a preliminary decision dated 12 October, seen by The Irish Times, Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) found that Dakhla is “not a part of Morocco”. It recommended that its independent committee uphold the decision and direct that the advert not appear again in its current form. 

Irish MEP Lynn Boylan filed the complaint, describing the advertisement as misleading and offensive, according to The Irish Times. Ryanair told the authority it only wanted to give passengers an overview of the destination “without expressing any political stance”. The marketing emails promoted surf trips to Dakhla and the chance to “explore Moroccan culture up close”.

The Advertising Standards Authority is the advertising industry’s self-regulatory body in Ireland. It was founded in 1981 and is financed by the advertising industry itself. 

It administers a Code of Standards for Advertising and Marketing Communications, which requires ads to be honest and truthful. Anyone can complain about an ad. The advertiser is asked to respond, and the case is then decided by an independent Complaints Committee made up of experts from the advertising, media, education and consumer sectors. Its decisions are published, naming the advertiser.

Media owners are reminded that ads found in breach cannot be accepted for publication, and a monitoring service follows up on whether advertisers comply. The ASA says compliance rates are high.

Advertisers are expected to withdraw or amend ads found in breach, and the final decision is published with Ryanair’s name on it. The final decision will be made public on the authority’s website.

If a company ignores a decision, the ASA’s tools are mostly reputational and practical: public naming, and requests to media and platforms not to carry the advert. Ryanair controls its own emails and website, which limits the practical leverage. 

Recommendations of the ASA are always made in preliminary versions after complaints have been investigated. They are then sent to both sides, who can add comments. The independent Committee then decides whether the complaint is upheld, and only that decision is final. The 12 October document is the executive’s view, not yet the authority’s final decision.

Western Sahara Resource Watch (WSRW) wrote to Ryanair on 18 November 2024, days after the airline announced that it would fly from Madrid and Lanzarote to Dakhla from January 2025. The letter inquired into the carrier group’s decision to fly into a territory that is under foreign, military occupation. Ryanair’s own press material called Dakhla the thirteenth airport “in Ryanair’s Moroccan network”, which is factually incorrect. The airline thanked the Moroccan government for its “support and vision” in the project, and WSRW has not seen a reply to its letter.

On 19 November 2024, Boylan asked the European Commission about Ryanair’s conduct. In January 2025 the Commission confirmed that the EU-Morocco aviation agreement does not apply to Western Sahara, in line with a 2018 ruling by the EU Court of Justice. In other words, flights to Dakhla have no cover under the EU’s aviation deal. 

The Irish watchdog’s preliminary finding now adds another dimension to the controversy: the accuracy of Ryanair’s own marketing of Dakhla. Western Sahara is a UN-listed Non-Self-Governing Territory, distinct from Morocco.
 

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