Ryanair will start flying from Spain to Dakhla in occupied Western Sahara from January 2025, connecting the town with Madrid and Lanzarote.  

“Dakhla will thus become the thirteenth airport in Ryanair's Moroccan network, further strengthening the airline's investment in the Kingdom", the company stated on its website on 13 November (or download). 

The problem, of course, is that Dakhla is not located within the kingdom of Morocco at all, but in the part of Western Sahara that is under foreign Moroccan occupation. 

Posts on the company's Facebook (or download) and Instagram (or download) accounts on 14 November even show staff of the Irish company with the word “Dakhla” next to a Moroccan flag.  

“We are excited to strengthen Morocco’s connectivity and Ryanair’s investment in the Kingdom, boosting tourism and economic growth in this region of Morocco, supported by Ryanair’s unbeatable fares”, the CEO of the airline subsidiary of the Ryanair Group, Eddie Wilson, stated.

The Ryanair official also stressed his gratitude to the Moroccan head of government "for their support and vision in securing this major investment in Morocco". 

CEO Wilson visited Dakhla on 13 November, as shown on LinkedIn posts of the Moroccan minister of tourism (or download) and the Moroccan National Tourism Office (or download).

Ironically, Ryanair seems to take a diametrically opposite approach to the occupation of Ukraine. 

“We are working with the Ukrainian government to restart and rebuild Ukrainian aviation. But our most important task is to help reunite 10-12 million internally displaced Ukrainians across Europe with their friends and families and to bring everyone back home to Ukraine,” CEO of the Ryanair Group Mike O’Leary told in a summit on Crimea. In 2023, he expressed strong support of his company to Ukraine. 

A Ukrainian official stated as late as on 14 November that Ryanair is ”ready to be the first to enter Crimea and resume flights" after “Crimea is liberated and security” is ensured. 

Only three known other companies have operated flights into the occupied Western Sahara in recent years, in addition to the Moroccan state-owned Royal Air Maroc: Transavia (a subsidiary of KLM-Air France), Air Arabia and Binter Airlines. 

In 2018, the EU Court of Justice ruled that the EU-Moroccan aviation agreement does not apply to Western Sahara - as the territory is not part of Morocco. See the chronology of the aviation legal case here. 

Western Sahara Resource Watch wrote to Ryanair on 18 November 2024. This article will be updated with Ryanair's answer once we receive it. 

WSRW wrote to KLM-Air France in 2020, without obtaining a response. 

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