Nador International Airport,, is an international airport serving Nador, a city in the Oriental region in Morocco. It is also known as Arwi Airport. An initial airport was created in 1931 in the village of Tawima and was the primary airport for Melilla, since 1947 a Spanish enclave to the north. Following the independence of the Morocco, Melilla began steps in creating an airport within Spanish control. In 1969 Melilla Airport opened to provide air travel within the Spanish enclave. Nador is a small international airport with links to Morocco's main airports and some European destinations such as Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain. In the summer season it becomes a very busy airport when many Moroccan nationals living in Western Europe and originating from the Rif region travel through it. The Nador airport is owned and run by the state company ONDA. The main user is Royal Air Maroc but also low-cost carriers like Ryanair fly to Nador. Although most flights are operated using the smaller Boeing 737 or similar, in the summer months the demand for seats is so high that Royal Air Maroc operated weekly flights from Amsterdam Schiphol and Brussels using their Boeing 747 but in 2012 these flights were replaced by "normal" Boeing 737 flights. The runway and stand are designed to handle Jumbo's but the facilities like passport control get overwhelmed when a full B-747 arrives In the year 2009 the airport handled over 307,000 passengers.
Terminal and passenger facilities
Nador International Airport has a single terminal, divided into arrivals and departures, both on the ground floor. Check-in terminals are located at one side of the main terminal hall, while the other side is for baggage retrieval for arriving customers.
Location
The original location at Taouima moved to El Aroui, some 14 miles south-southwest of Nador city. The airport lies nearly directly along the N2national road. There is no public transport to the airport. Directly in front of the terminal there is a large parking-place which is mainly used for people bringing or picking up of passengers. Also outside the terminal there are many Grand Taxis offering shared connections with most major destinations for people flying to Nador. The taxis are also often offered for private-hire: thus where there is only one passenger. As the airport is far beyond any city-limits there are no Petit Taxis available at the airport.
Airlines and destinations
Access to the airport
The airport is located at Al Arouit and approximately 30 km. from Nador city by road. Other than taxis, no public transport is available. On arrival, meeting incoming flights many grand taxis wait outside the terminal and offer transfers to most regional cities. A paid car-park area is directly outside terminal, mainly used to bring passengers or pick up arriving passengers. The roads between the airport and Nador city are in good condition and signposted in Arabic and French. The airport lies directly along the main national route N2. From the airport the route to the city uses this N2 in Easterly direction to the North going route N15 to the city.
Traffic statistics
Like other Moroccan airports the traffic is very seasonal. All through the year Royal Air Maroc flies several times per week to Brussels and Amsterdam, but in the summer-season more flights are scheduled. In the peak-season RAM even uses their Boeing 747 Jumbo-jet every week on the route to/from Amsterdam and Brussels instead of the smaller Boeing 737 the rest of the year. In the two summer months nearly a third of the annual traffic is handled by the airport. Because Nador and surroundings isn't a tourist-destination such as Agadir or Marrakesh nearly all passengers are Moroccan nationals visiting relatives. Recent statistics
Item
2010
Change %
2009
Change %
2008
change %
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
Passengers
442,508
+43.30%
308,789
+ 44.94%
213,045
+ 25.50%
171,293
110,589
94,380
89,287
81,604
82,010
Movements
n/a
n/a
4020
+102.72%
1983
+ 7.89%
1838
1614
1634
1368
1001
1009
Cargo
n/a
n/a
3.98
- 28.80%
5.59
- 63.58%
15.35
92.33
22.04
74.36
17.27
20.30
Runway information
The airport has one runway, approximately 3,000 metres long and 45 metres wide. It can handle commercial aircraft up to a Boeing 747. Total aircraft parking space is 54,000 m², enough for two Boeing 747s or four Boeing 737s.
Navigation
The airport has an ILS Class 1 certification and offers the following radionavigational aids: VOR – DME – NDB PAPI lighting available when landing on runway 28
