It is estimated that thousands of Dutch people are trapped in the African country. Transavia, the only Dutch provider of flights to Morocco, brought 3,500 people to six Moroccan cities last week. The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs advises stranded travelers to look for a route via other European countries, such as Belgium. For example, it is still possible to fly to Brussels.
“This is very strange, but Morocco often does it like this,” says 22-year-old Mohamed, who lives in the Netherlands, from Casablanca airport. Also in February this year, the Moroccan government surprised many travelers with an acutely introduced flight ban. Mohamed was in the country to visit a sick relative and ‘luckily’ had booked his return flight for Wednesday evening. ‘Otherwise I’d have a big problem. You would think that it no longer has to go this way, now that almost everyone in the Netherlands has been vaccinated, but anyway.’
The Moroccan airlines Royal Air Maroc and Air Arabia Maroc cite the corona virus on social media as the reason for the flight ban. According to the news website Le360 bosom ‘a new Delta variant’ fear into the Moroccan government. The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not want to confirm or deny that reporting.
It would then be a variant of the delta variant called ‘AY.4.2’, which is closely monitored by scientists. Although the mutation has recently surfaced in Denmark, Britain and the Netherlands, among others, experts see no cause for concern. ‘Because spreading is what viruses do’, virologist Marc van Ranst told the newspaper today The morning. In any case, the virus does not yet have its own mention on the lists of worrying variants of the World Health Organization and the European health service ECDC.
At Casablanca airport, the last flight from Transavia to the Netherlands is completely sold out on Wednesday evening. 52-year-old Abdullah from Utrecht, for work in the city, was supposed to fly back on Friday, but decided to book his ticket on Wednesday morning. ‘My new ticket was quite expensive at 185 euros, but I didn’t dare fly back via Brussels later: who knows, maybe they will also ban those flights in a few days’ time,’ he says.
In his own words, Abdullah’s phone is red hot with concerned family and friends from the Netherlands. ‘Fortunately, what happened to my brother last March did not happen to me: he had to stay in Casablanca for four months, while his family was in the Netherlands.’
Transavia hopes to receive permission in the coming days for a few flights from Morocco to the Netherlands, to bring travelers home. A spokesperson hopes that more clarity will be provided on Thursday. All flights of the company from the Netherlands to Morocco have been cancelled. Other Dutch airlines do not fly to the North African country anyway.
With the cooperation of Maarten Keulemans. The sources at the airport in Casablanca do not want to be mentioned by last name.
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