Marrakesh Morocco 14 - 18th May 2025 Dave Anderson
Looking for a bit of warmth for a few days with all the cold easterly winds we had, after a bit of searching round we opted for Marrakesh in Morocco, a country we had never visited. I wanted a central hotel so we could pretty much walk everywhere and found the “Sillage Palace”, a boutique hotel with only 10 rooms, set in lovely gardens and only a 10 minute stroll away from the centre of town, but very quiet. The big advantage was that it had a rooftop pool and views of the arrivals or departures from the airport. The hotel didn’t disappoint, excellent service, great rooms and the pool lived up to expectation. Our flights were with Ryanair UK from Manchester with good times afternoon out and late morning return, no early mornings! A few hours in the viewing park then off to T3 using the Escape lounge which gave excellent views over the runway, shame they were on runway 06 as the arrivals were too far away for photo’s but all departures came past the window.
Bit of a delay as they nicked our aircraft (told us it had gone tech - really !!!) to use on a delayed Derry flight, we eventually took G-RUKM which was originally going to Alicante! Its a regular Ryanair tactic to avoid the 3 hour delay (soon to be 4 hour) compensation scheme.
It was dark on landing so only a few in the log book, including a USAF Ohio ANG KC135R 62-3531, it was still there on Saturday. We went out during the mornings and after wandering around the town we settled down by the pool for the afternoon before heading out in the evening. Marrakesh airport is not that busy, probably on a par with Newcastle and has lots of Ryanair, easyJet and regular RAM flights, there seemed to be about 10 bizz jets a day. The Air Force have some FFA Bravo trainers based here and 5 were seen in and out everyday, we did get an F16 doing an overshoot one day. Mostly they were departing on runway 28 everything departing could be seen from the pool area but nothing arriving, they were about 2 miles away passing through 1000 - 2000ft, they did change runway and the reverse viewing was fine seeing them down to about 700ft. Photo’s were marginal using 400mm but heat haze is an issue. From our room there was a gap where you could see them, not what you would call a spotting room though, but convenient for the odd thing of interest. Overflights were few and far between, some trailed and were easily seen, mainly France to Eastern Africa, those that didn’t trail were near on impossible to see.
Marrakesh was an excellent place to visit, clean, safe, friendly people, no hassle walking through the souks and some very nice food, there are no bars and only certain restaurants sold alcohol.
Returning home on Sat morning, despite having printed boarding passes, (a country requirement as its not allowed to use one on your phone) you still have to check in, guess so they can try and stiff people with extra baggage charges. Once airside, viewing is ok, you can see all the airliners and all runway movements, the bizz ramp is visible to the right looking out but most were parked nose on, no good for photo’s as the glass is tinted and lots of clutter outside. Our return flight was on G-RUKD it was full as it was on the way out, nothing of interest at Manchester on landing so it was straight home. D-BEER departed Marrakesh an hour after us for Teesside via Guernsey, it landed at Teesside at the same time I pulled on the drive, they probably had a more comfortable journey.
I only noted the aircraft that were of interest to me in the logs below.
Manchester 14/05/25
OK-ELD Phenom 300 at the viewing park
| C-GOKG | Air Transat | Airbus A321 271NX(SL) |
| D-CWPS | International Jet Management | Embraer EMB-505 Phenom 300 |
| EI-IJY | Ryanair | Boeing 737 8200MAX |
| G-LMTF | Loganair | Aerospatiale ATR 72 600 |
| G-OHJK | ASL Airlines UK | Boeing 737 82R(BCF) |
| G-PBOT | Aurigny Air Services | Aerospatiale ATR 72 600 |
| G-RORE | Flexjet Operations | Embraer EMB-550 Praetor 600 |
| HZ-ARD | Saudia | Boeing 787 9 |
| OK-ELD | Corporate | Embraer EMB-505 Phenom 300 |
| SE-RTR | Norwegian Air Sweden | Boeing 737 8MAX |
| SU-GFR | EgyptAir | Airbus A321 251NX(SL) |
| TC-CRF | Pegasus Airlines | Boeing 737 800 |
| TC-DCL | Pegasus Airlines | Airbus A320 214(SL) |
EI-IKN from the Escape lounge in T3
SU-GFR from the Escape lounge in T3
Marrakesh 14/05/25
| 9H-THB | Corporate | Learjet 31A |
| 9H-VIC | VistaJet Malta | Bombardier Global 7500 BD-700-2A12 |
| 9H-WDK | Wizz Air Malta | Airbus A321 271NX(SL) |
| CS-LTM | NetJets Europe | Cessna 680 A Citation Latitude |
| D-COLO | ProAir Aviation GmbH | Cessna 525C Citation Jet 4 |
| N82EM | Corporate | Bombardier Global Express BD-700-1A10 XRS |
| T7-EMI | Corporate | Hawker-Siddeley 125 900XP |
| VP-CRA | Corporate | Embraer ERJ-135 BJ Legacy 650 |
Examples of views from the hotel roof top pool area.
Marrakesh 15/05/25
| 9H-VFR | VistaJet Malta | Bombardier 605 Challenger |
| 9H-WDY | Wizz Air Malta | Airbus A321 271NX(SL) |
| CN-AUB | Royal Moroccan Air Force | FFA AS 202 18A-1 Bravo |
| CN-AUC | Royal Moroccan Air Force | FFA AS 202 18A-1 Bravo |
| CN-AUD | Royal Moroccan Air Force | FFA AS 202 18A-1 Bravo |
| CN-AUH | Royal Moroccan Air Force | FFA AS 202 18A-1 Bravo |
| CN-RGH | Royal Air Maroc | Boeing 737 86N |
| D-AIUT | Discover Airlines | Airbus A320 214(SL) |
| EC-NQS | Corporate | Cessna 525C Citation Jet 4 |
| OE-LDP | SPARFELL Luftfahrt | Bombardier Global 7500 BD-700-2A12 |
Marrakesh over the top 15/05/25
| 6V-ANB | Air Senegal | Airbus A330 941N |
| CN-AOP | Royal Moroccan Air Force | Lockheed C-130 H Hercules |
| D2-TEG | TAAG Angola Airlines | Boeing 777 3M2ER |
| F-HLUX | Corsair International | Airbus A330 941N |
| LX-JNC | Global Jet Luxembourg | Bombardier Global Express BD-700-1A10 XRS |
Marrakesh 16/05/25
| 9H-VCV | VistaJet Malta | Bombardier Challenger 3500 BD-100-1A10 |
| CN-AUE | Royal Moroccan Air Force | FFA AS 202 18A-1 Bravo |
| EC-NJI | Iberia Express | Airbus A321 251NX(SL) |
| OE-LZR | Austrian Airlines | Airbus A320 271N(SL) |
| SP-DOM | AMC Aviation | Learjet 60 |
Marrakesh 17/05/25
| 4X-CZB | Corporate | Cessna 650 Citation III |
| 9H-JAD | Air X Charter | Canadair Regional-Jet 850 |
| 9H-WDG | Wizz Air Malta | Airbus A321 271NX(SL) |
| CN-RGR | Royal Air Maroc | Embraer Emb-190 100IGW |
| CN-SYA | Corporate | Cessna 650 Citation III |
| TC-LCA | THY Turkish Airlines | Boeing 737 8MAX |
| TC-RSC | Redstar Aviation | Learjet 45 |
Marrakesh 18/05/25
| 9H-WAY | Wizz Air Malta | Airbus A321 271NX(SL) |
| CN-COE | Royal Air Maroc Express | Aerospatiale ATR 72 600 |
| CN-RGV | Royal Air Maroc | Boeing 737 85P |
| D-BEER | VistaJet Germany | Embraer EMB-550 Legacy 500 (To Teesside) |
| EC-NCU | Vueling Airlines | Airbus A320 271N(SL) |
| F-HXSO | Transavia France | Airbus A320 252N(SL) |
| M-MBFF | Corporate | Bombardier Global 5000 BD-700-1A11 |
| N650GU | Planet Nine Private Air | Gulfstream G650 |
| TC-DCG | Pegasus Airlines | Airbus A320 216(SL) |
Examples of views in the terminal departure area.
LY-MLI Airbus A320 lsd to Transavia
OE-IJB Airbus A320 easyJet Europe