TUI plans Lille – Fes this winter; France – Fes had 14 routes last year

TUI Airlines Belgium

TUI Belgium plans its next route between France and Morocco, according to OAG Schedules Analyser, with Lille – Fes set to take off on 10 November.

TUI’s 1,981-kilometre route will be TUI’s fifth to Morocco from the northeast France city.  The others are Agadir, Casablanca, Marrakesh, and Nador.

France – Fes had 825,000 seats last year…

Pre-coronavirus, France – Fes was a nicely developing market, with a CAGR of 6.5% between 2010 and 2019. It grew much faster than Morocco – France’s 1%, but obviously from vastly different bases.

Last year, Fes had 10% of the total France – Morocco market, nearly double its share over 2010.

France – Fes ended 2019 with 825,000 seats, up 10% YOY, slightly below country-level growth.  This 10% change was primarily from both Ryanair (+25%) and Air Arabia Maroc (+16%).

Source: OAG Schedules Analyser.

… across 14 routes

These 825,000 seats involved 14 routes.  

On an airport-pair level, Paris Orly – Fes was by far the largest (17% of total seats), followed by Marseille – Fes (12%), and, interestingly, Montpellier – Fes (10%). 

Paris Orly – Fes operated up to 12-weekly across Royal Air Maroc and Transavia France.

At the other end, Paris Vatry – Fes was the thinnest (1% of seats), followed by Dole – Fes (2%), and Brest – Fes (4%). Paris Chalons-Vatry operated once-weekly on a winter-seasonal basis by Ryanair.

This coming winter, top players so far have 6% fewer weekly frequencies

Last year, Ryanair had 47% of France – Fes seats, followed by Air Arabia Maroc with 35%.

Fast-forwarding to this winter, frequencies are surprisingly just 6% down versus last winter, according to their booking engines.