Frequently asked questions

Answers to the most common questions about slot coordination in Morocco.

• What is an airport slot?

  A slot is the scheduled time of arrival or departure available or allocated to an aircraft movement on a specific date at a coordinated airport. It is the authorisation to use all airport infrastructure, granted by a coordinator for the operation of an air service within a coordinated airport system at a precise date and time, for the purposes of landing and take-off.

• What does a coordinated airport mean?

  IATA classifies airports into 3 levels of congestion. Level 1: infrastructure generally matches demand at all times. Level 2: congestion may occur during certain periods and can be resolved through voluntary cooperation between airlines via a facilitator. Level 3: infrastructure is insufficiently developed and a coordinator allocates the slots. An airport is said to be coordinated when it is classified Level 3: every carrier must then hold an allocated slot to land or take off. Coordination does not apply to State flights, to landings or take-offs for safety or emergency reasons, or to humanitarian or medical flights.

• What are the global practices for airport coordination?

  Worldwide, 125 airports are facilitated (IATA Level 2) and 165 airports are fully coordinated (IATA Level 3).

• What governance bodies are provided for slot coordination?

  Schedule coordinator or facilitator: the Directorate General of Civil Aviation appoints a qualified individual or legal entity, responsible for allocating slots at coordinated airports in accordance with Circular No. 175 of 15 January 2026 and for ensuring compliance, in a neutral, non-discriminatory and transparent manner. Coordination committee: a committee is set up for each coordinated airport system, chaired by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and made up of representatives of the air carriers, of air traffic control management and of the coordinator. It acts as a body for proposals and advice towards quality coordination for the benefit of all air carriers.

• Who is the Moroccan Slots Coordinator?

  Moroccan Slots Coordinator, an association governed by Dahir No. 1-58-376, was created on 28 August 2013 under Circular No. 2399 of 5 August 2013 issued by the Ministry of Equipment, Transport and Logistics, with the aim of coordinating airline schedules and allocating slots at Morocco's coordinated airports. The Moroccan Slots Coordinator is the designated coordinator. Its members are representatives of the scheduled airlines, of the airport operators and of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

• What are the slot allocation parameters at CMN and RBA?

  Slot allocation first requires the determination of the allocation parameters, taking into account all technical, operational and environmental constraints. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation is responsible for this, based on an objective analysis of the infrastructure capacity and of staff availability. Each link of the airport chain serves a flow (passengers, baggage, aircraft); the declared capacity for a given flow is that of the weakest link. At Casablanca, this link is the number of inspection and screening positions (X-ray), which limits the maximum international departing passenger flow to 800 passengers per hour (W14 coordination parameters).

• What were the results of the first Moroccan coordination experience?

  From its launch, the Moroccan Slots Coordinator handled the coordination of the IATA summer 2014 season, which began on 16 September 2013. In November 2013 the association joined the worldwide coordinators association (WWACG) and took part in the international IATA Slot Conference held in Fort Worth (USA) from 14 to 17 November 2013, as well as the European Slot Optimisation Meeting (SOM) in Paris on 22-23 January 2014. The summer 2014 coordination involved 34 scheduled airlines operating at Casablanca and Rabat/Salé. At Casablanca, it smoothed movements with an overall satisfaction rate of 98% of requests, avoiding the heavy congestion of previous seasons, and absorbed strong demand more smoothly (+24% in summer 2014 versus summer 2013). This was made possible through close cooperation between airlines, the coordinator and the airport operator, under the aegis of the Ministry of Equipment, Transport and Logistics.