Mohammed V International Airport That Serves Casablanca

Mohammed V International Airport lies at the Province of Nouaceur which is a suburb of southeast Casablanca situated at a distance of 30 kilometre. This airport is located in Africa and functions by ONDA which is a National Airports Office. This is the busiest airport in Morocco were nearly 6.2 million passengers come every year. This airport was named after the late Sultan Mohammed V of Morocco.

Mohammed V International Airport is the centre of the flag carrier in Morocco like Royal Air Maroc, Jet4you, Air Arabia Maroc and Regional Air Lines. This airport is combined with the Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and Yaser Arafat International Airport. Its airport code is CMN and has only one terminal. It also has an official website called WWW.onda.org.ma where you can log on and get the related information.

This airport was originally built by the United States in the year 1943 when World War II was in force. It was served as an auxiliary airfield for Anfa Airport in Casablanca. It was named as Berrechid Airfield. It was handled numerous military transports to Port Lyautey Airfield or to Marrakech Airport. Many things happened with this airport that changed the name of the airport.

To increase the capacity of the airport, expansion project is going on that will increase many shops at the airport. Terminal 2 has been started and construction of terminal 3 is under process. You can reach to this airport from the centre of Casablanca. You have to drive towards Settat and then from northeast Casablanca you have to take the highway to Marrakesh. Follow the signs on the highway.

Few of the airlines that operates from this airport are Air Algerie, Air Arabia Maroc, Air France, Alitalia, Atlas Blue, EasyJet, EgyptAir, Emirates, Etihad Airways, Hellenic Imperial Airways, Jet4you, Iberia Airlines, Iberia that is operating by Air Nostrum, Libyan Airlines, Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Royal Air Maroc Express, Saudi Arabian Airlines, TAP Portugal which is operated by Portugalia, Tunisair, Turkish Airlines and Vueling Airlines. The major Cargo operators at this airport are Air France Cargo, DHL Airways, FedEx Express, Royal Air Maroc Cargo and UPS Airlines.

Recently, a 30,000 square metres of Cargo facility has been opened in the year 2008 that has processing capacity of 1,50,000 tonnes each year. The Cargo operations will be enlarged soon as Casablanca is among the major trading and industrial cities in the southern Mediterranean.

The airport has two airport hotels. One is the Atlas Hotel, three star hotel owned by Atlas Hospitality and another hotel at terminal 2 inside the transit area that provides rooms for shorter periods especially for the transiting passengers. You can reach to this airport through A7 Casa-Berchid motorway than through Bouskoura. Later from Rabat you can use the A3 and then the A5.

You can also reach at the airport by rail. You will find the train station that lies at level-1 of Terminal 1 in the arrivals area. Trains operate every hour from the airport to Casablanca and vice-versa. Besides this, bus and taxi services are also available. CTM is a bus company that operates its services from the city centre to the Casablanca Mohammed V airport. You will get taxis at the level 0 of the arrivals area.

For any kind of details you have one information desk in arrivals and one desk in departures. You can get the tourist details as well at the airport. Money and communications, eating and drinking, shopping and few other facilities are available at the airport. Facilities like banks, ATMs, post office, fax, telephones, Internet access, fax, photocopy, restaurants, cafes and others could be found at the airport. For shopping you have centre in Departures and you will also get several duty free shops in arrivals and departures. Apart from all these facilities, ambulance, pharmacy and prayer room are also available. Facilities like conference and business could be done at the main hall in the small business centre.

Not only this, you also have facilities for the disabled travellers like lifts, wheelchairs and special assistance. You will get two separate lifts in the Departures and also in Arrivals for the disabled traveler. As there are no hotels situated at the airport you have to book rooms that are close to it like the Hyatt Regency Casablanca, the Idou Anfa Hotel, Le Royal Mansour Meridien and the Sheraton Casablanca Hotel and Towers. Most of the hotels provide an airport shuttle service for your convenience.

Casablanca is rich in tourist attractions. So if you arrive here then visit the attractions like Hassan II Mosque which is an only architectural work in the city, New Medina of Casablanca, Notre Dame de Lourdes which is a cathedral, Les Bains Ziani, Complexe le Village, it’s a bar and club where you can enjoy your day, City Hall of Casablanca which is a government building, Square of Mohammed V, Old Medina of Casablanca, Museum of Moroccan Judaism, it’s a famous museum, an architectural building named Royal Palace of Casablanca, White Mosque, it’s a religious site, L’Eglise du Sacre-Coeur which is again a religious site and Parc de la Ligue Arabe which is a park. So these all are the attractions of Casablanca that attracts visitors from around the globe.

Casablanca is a hot city due to the desert nearby. Winter remains chill and rainy season starts from the month of November to April but the days almost remains dry. So you can explore this city during winter with chill weather. You have plenty of attractions at this place with the mind blowing features. Just you have to book for your accommodations and then start exploring the city entirely. And this can be happened only when you will arrive at the Mohammed V Airport.