Royal Air Maroc Sues Pilot Trainees After Suspending Their Contracts

Rabat – Following a two-year contract suspension due to the COVID crisis, Morocco’s Royal Air Maroc (RAM) carrier is suing a number of its trainee pilots for a refund of its payment of their training loans.

Due to the suspension of air travel to and from Morocco at the height of the COVID crisis in 2020, RAM suspended its contracts with 105 of its trainee pilots.

The suspension came in the middle of the student pilots’ training before their signing of permanent contracts with the carrier, noted Jawad Al Ghazwani, one of RAM’s suspended trainee pilots.

The 105 trainee pilots understood the challenges faced by the carrier, he added, noting that the decision left them without income nor health coverage since August 2020. Initially, the trainees were told their contracts would be suspended for seven months.

At the end of the seven-month suspension, however, RAM extended the measure for another year, leaving the trainee pilots in a tight spot. As their financial situation continued to deteriorate, the trainees requested a meeting with RAM’s management.

During the meeting, the trainee students expressed their concerns and urged the company to either regularize their contract situation or provide them with financial support as they did not benefit from Morocco’s social measures for alleviating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on vulnerable populations.

But RAM rejected the trainees’ requests, telling them to not expect any financial support as it also suffered losses due to the unprecedented disruption to air traveling with the closure of borders.

In November, the 105 trainee pilots received a call from RAM informing them that they would not be recruited as full-time RAM pilots.

Instead, Royal Air Maroc presented them with an alternative that involved sending a request to an intermediary firm that could hire the trainees under a different contract.

The trainee pilots were surprised to hear the news, especially as they had waited for two years for a return to their positions to sign a contract with RAM.

Breach of trust

As a result, they rejected RAM’s oral proposal, stressing the difference between their initial contract and the alternative the company was now suggesting.

Outraged, the students accused RAM of a breach of trust, pointing out that the company’s management had promised to hire them as full employees as soon as air travel resumes.

In an October 2020 interview with Moroccan magazine Telquel, RAM’s Director-General promised to recruit the suspended trainee pilots.

“It is clear that as soon as the resumption of activity allows it, we will do everything to take them back, to recruit them,” he said.

Having now reneged on the assurances it gave the trainees two years ago, RAM is suing the trainee pilots to reimburse the loan payments it had to pay for them as their sponsor during the two-year suspension.

To pursue their training, the pilots contracted a MAD 1.6 million ($163,077) loan each with the option to repay in installments from their salaries once recruited by RAM for a period of 10 years. With the carrier having suspended the trainees’ contracts, they do not have a source of income to pay their training loans.

On March 14, the coordination of RAM trainee pilots shared a screenshot of a notice the 105 trainee pilots received from the airline company’s lawyer. Based on the notice, each trainee has to pay the company MAD 1.18 million ($120,269) within a period of 15 days as reimbursement for loan payments done by the carrier during the suspension period.

Together with the lawyer’s notice, the trainee pilots also received a formal notice from the banks where they agreed to take a student loan. RAM had chosen the banks when sponsoring the trainees’ studies.

Meanwhile, the lawyer’s notice stated that Royal Air Maroc will take legal action in case any of the trainees fails to complete the transaction within the requested period.

The coordination of RAM trainee pilots published on March 14 a screenshot of a bank notice received by one of the suspended trainee pilots. Stating that Royal Air Maroc notified the bank about the interruption of the pilots’ training, the bank urged the trainee pilot to pay MAD 1.26 million ($128,423) within eight days of receiving the notice. The amount does not include loan interest and taxes among other charges.

As they continue to wait for an alternative solution to their situation, the trainees have been taking refuge in a social media campaign to defend their cause. But it remains to be seen whether the circulation of hashtags like “Shame on RAM” will effectively help the trainees’ cause.