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Representatives of the Spanish airline Binter and local authorities in the Guelmim region in southern Morocco have said that they are satisfied with the opening of a new direct air link between Gran Canaria (Canary Islands) and Guelmim.
An ATR 72 plane with a capacity of 72 passengers from Binter landed at Guelmim airport yesterday, marking the official inauguration of this new air service.
The new flight will connect Gran Canaria and Guelmim twice a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Director of Guelmim airport, Abdelwahab Chaabaoui, said that this air link represents the first international service linking Guelmim airport, which is of “great interest for the population of the Guelmim Oued-Noun region.”
He emphasized that several locals in the Guelmim region have family members who reside in the Canary Islands.
Chaabaoui hopes to see the airport in Guelmim linked to other international destinations to promote tourism activities in the southern Moroccan region.
The representative of Binter in Guelmim, Ahmed Ikour, lauded the inauguration of the flight, describing it as “very promising.”
While acknowledging that Binter seeks to make the most of the great economic potential in Guelmim Oued-Noun, Ikour argued that the new air route is particularly important and welcome because it establishes a much-needed bridge between the Canary Islands’ large Moroccan community and their families back home in southern Morocco.
Director of commercial development of Binter, Pablo Landrau Villalobos, echoed Chaabaoui and Ikour’s statement, saying that the flight opening was thanks to the support of the various actors in Guelmim Oued Noun, including local authorities in the southern Moroccan region.
Through the new flight, “a new era opens” for both sides, the Canary Islands and the Guelmim Oued-Noun region, Villalobos said, asserting that this new air route will be “crowned with success.”
Also commenting on the launch, the first vice-president of the council of the Guelmim Oued-Noun region, Ahmed Idzidane, noted that the new air route is part of a partnership agreement signed in 2019 between the regional council and Binter, to which the region contributed MAD 7.5 million.
The flight also falls within the framework of investment incentives and the strengthening of local services for the population of the region, a large number of whom reside in the Canary Islands, he said.
The Guelmim council’s vice president sees the flight as a means to open up new horizons, with a positive impact on regional development.
