Air Arabia Maroc

As of October 2026 – If you see a white-and-red A320 with Air Arabia titles in Brussels, Amsterdam or Paris, you often think of the Emirates. A glance at the registration, though, often tells a different story: CN- stands for Morocco. Behind it is Air Arabia Maroc, the Moroccan low-cost subsidiary of the Air Arabia group. It has flown only Airbus A320s since 2009 and connects Casablanca, Tangier, Fez and Nador with numerous destinations in Europe. On this page you will find codes, fleet, network, recognition features and tips on where to catch it best.

Air Arabia Maroc at a glance

In April 2009 Air Arabia of Sharjah presented its Moroccan offshoot. Partners were Morocco’s Regional Air Lines and Ithmaar Bank of Bahrain. The idea behind it was simple: the group transferred its proven low-cost model to the market between Morocco and Europe. There, many people regularly travel between their homes in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain or Italy and their families in Morocco.

On May 6, 2009, the first scheduled flight took off, from Casablanca to London-Stansted. The first destinations also included Brussels, Marseille, Milan and Paris. In summer 2009 Jason Bitter, previously head of the Slovak low-cost airline SkyEurope, took over management.

Since then the network has changed considerably. Besides Casablanca, bases were added in Tangier, Fez and Nador, and at times also in Agadir. The airline announced the closure of that base in fall 2019. Today the Air Arabia group counts Morocco, alongside the Emirates, Egypt and Pakistan, among its hub countries.

Codes and callsign

The Air Arabia group operates several independent airlines under almost the same brand. That is why a close look at the identifiers is worthwhile. The basics are explained in the guide IATA and ICAO codes.

• IATA code 3O: the digit three and the letter O. It appears in the flight number, so on the ticket, display board and in schedule apps.
• ICAO code MAC: appears in the flight plan filed with air traffic control and on ADS-B trackers.
• Callsign ARABIA MAROC: this is how the crew calls in on the radio.
• For comparison: Air Arabia of Sharjah flies as G9/ABY, Air Arabia Abu Dhabi as 3L/ADY.

So on the tracker you filter for MAC. Why callsign and flight number often do not match is explained in the article on the difference between callsign and flight number. How to read live data correctly is covered in the guide to flight tracking with ADS-B.

The fleet: only the Airbus A320

Like the whole group, Air Arabia Maroc relies on a single aircraft type. One type means shared pilot training, one spare parts inventory and flexible planning in which any aircraft can fly any route. How low-cost carriers keep costs down this way is explained in the article How low-cost carriers work.

Type	Role	How to recognize it	Status
Airbus A320-200	only type, whole network	Narrowbody, two engines, ceo generation, CN- registration	eleven aircraft in summer 2025 according to industry figures

Air Arabia states a capacity of up to 174 seats for its A320s in a uniform economy cabin. The fleet in Morocco is manageable, which makes it attractive for collectors: if you regularly stand at a Western European airport with Morocco traffic, you can photograph a large share of the aircraft over the years. Whether the fleet has grown since or individual aircraft have been swapped, you can best check via a current fleet list.

A320ceo, not neo

The Moroccan fleet consists of the classic A320 version, known in the trade as ceo (current engine option). The parent company in Sharjah, by contrast, already operates A320neos as well as the larger A321. If you see an Air Arabia jet with large, round neo engines, it is very probably not an aircraft from Morocco. How to tell the two generations apart with confidence is explained in the guide A320neo or ceo?. You will find background on the manufacturer on the page about Airbus.

Product and business model

Air Arabia Maroc uses the group’s brand, booking system and product. The base fare is low, and extras such as baggage, seat selection or meals are added depending on the fare. Unlike some ultra-low-cost airlines, it often flies to the big main airports, such as Paris-Charles de Gaulle or Brussels, and not just secondary ones. Observers therefore like to describe the model as a mix of low-cost carrier and classic airline.

The group’s setup is interesting. In countries with large traffic potential, Air Arabia founds its own airlines with a local air operator certificate instead of flying everything from Sharjah. That creates traffic rights from the respective country, and the airline can fly directly between Morocco and Europe. Morocco was the first step in 2009, with further offshoots following later. How airlines with several brands under one roof work, you can read in the guide to multi-brand strategies.

In its home market Air Arabia Maroc meets strong competition. Royal Air Maroc is the country’s network airline with its hub in Casablanca. European low-cost carriers like Ryanair, easyJet, Transavia France, Transavia and Vueling also fly a lot to Morocco.

Network: four bases, many destinations in Europe

The route network follows the travel flows between Morocco and Europe: family visits, vacations and business trips. Each base has its own profile.

• Casablanca (CMN): The largest base and the airline’s headquarters at Mohammed V Airport. From here many routes go to France, Italy, Spain and Belgium, plus a few domestic flights.
• Tangier (TNG): The base in the north with connections to France, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands, among others.
• Fez (FEZ): Connects the royal city with destinations like Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam, plus domestic routes.
• Nador (NDR): The base in the northeast is strongly oriented toward the Rif region, where many families in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany come from.

Besides the bases, Air Arabia Maroc serves other Moroccan cities, depending on the schedule for example Marrakech, Agadir, Rabat or Oujda. Outside Europe, Istanbul was in the network, among others. Network and frequencies change constantly, often seasonally too: in summer and around religious holidays demand rises sharply. How summer and winter schedules shift the offering is explained in the article on the IATA summer and winter schedule.

Recognizing the livery

Air Arabia Maroc operates under the Air Arabia brand. The aircraft wear the group’s well-known design: a mostly white fuselage with red accents, the large Air Arabia titles and the stylized bird logo on the tail.

For the assignment these details are usually enough:

1. Registration – CN- stands for Morocco, A6- for the Emirates. How registrations are built is explained in the article on aircraft registrations, and the guide to country codes places the prefixes.
2. Flight number – 3O on the display board, MAC on the tracker.
3. Airport – departure or arrival in Morocco clearly points to Air Arabia Maroc.
4. Version – an A320neo or A321 points to a different Air Arabia airline.

Spotting in Europe and Morocco

Unlike many Gulf airlines, you do not have to travel far for Air Arabia Maroc. You have good chances at airports with a lot of Morocco traffic:

• Brussels: At Brussels Airport the airline has been present since its first year of operation. A proven location is the Steenokkerzeel spotter zone, with more tips in the guide Plane spotting in Brussels.
• Amsterdam: At Schiphol Airport, according to network overviews, connections from Tangier, Fez and Nador land. A relaxed entry point is the panorama terrace, with more ideas in the guide Plane spotting at Schiphol.
• Paris: At Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport it flies in from several Moroccan cities, see Plane spotting at Paris-Charles de Gaulle.
• Cologne/Bonn: The obvious candidate for spotters in Germany. Check the schedule and find a spot on the Cologne/Bonn observation deck, with more in the guide Plane spotting in Cologne/Bonn.

If you travel to Morocco, you will of course see the A320s at the bases, there alongside Royal Air Maroc and many European low-cost carriers. Find out locally about the rules on photographing at airports, which can be much stricter than in Central Europe. The article Spotting abroad provides background. In summer, heat and shimmering air come on top; you will find tips against that in the guide Avoiding heat haze.

The guide How rare is my sighting? helps you judge how special a sighting at your home airport is.

Common mix-ups

• Treating Air Arabia Maroc and Air Arabia as the same: Same brand, but separate airlines with their own codes, their own registrations and their own bases.
• Assuming Royal Air Maroc is the parent: Morocco’s state-owned airline is a competitor, not a parent company.
• Logging a G9 flight to Munich as a Morocco sighting: The Air Arabia flights to Munich come from Sharjah.
• Reading 3O as “30”: The code contains the letter O, not the digit zero.
• Confusing CN- with other prefixes: CN- is Morocco, A6- the Emirates, SU- Egypt.

Conclusion

Air Arabia Maroc was the Air Arabia group’s first offshoot in North Africa and has been a fixture of traffic between Morocco and Europe since 2009. The profile is clear: low-cost flights from four Moroccan bases, a manageable fleet of Airbus A320s and a network that is strongly oriented toward the travel routes of the Moroccan communities in Western Europe. For spotters in Central Europe it is therefore an attainable sighting that is easy to tell from its sister airlines by the CN- registration and 3O flight number.