TUI Fly Belgium Announces Closure of Moroccan Operations
TUI Fly Belgium, the subsidiary of the German travel giant TUI, is set to close its two Moroccan bases located in Casablanca and Marrakech in the coming days. This decision is expected to affect at least nine flight routes departing from key Moroccan cities including Casablanca, Marrakech, Agadir, and Rabat, which connect to various destinations in France and Italy. Notably, these routes will not be resumed during the winter season of 2026-2027 or the summer season of 2027. The reasons behind this strategic withdrawal have not been disclosed, although TUI Fly Belgium has been gradually reorganizing its network in recent years, reducing its operations at certain airports.
The origins of these bases trace back to the former Moroccan airline Jet4You, which was established in 2006 and was integrated into Jetairfly in 2012, ultimately rebranding as TUI Fly Belgium in 2016. Lorraine Aéroport, the management company for Metz-Nancy-Lorraine Airport, has confirmed the impending closure of the Casablanca base, with the final flights scheduled to take off within a week.
Flight Operations Affected and Future Plans
From Casablanca, TUI Fly Belgium operated flights to Paris-Orly, Lille, and Metz-Nancy-Lorraine, while flights from Marrakech included destinations such as Bologna, Paris-Orly, and Lille. Additional services were provided from Agadir to Lille and Paris-Orly, as well as from Rabat to Paris-Orly. During the summer of 2026, two Airbus A320 aircraft leased from Bulgaria Air were deployed to service these routes, still conducting a few operations before the full cessation of flights.
According to sources, approximately fifty cabin crew members from TUI are currently based in Morocco, but details regarding their contractual status and the implications of the base closures on their employment have yet to be clarified. Despite the closure of these bases, TUI Fly Belgium plans to maintain and even enhance its flight offerings between Belgium and Morocco during the summer of 2027. This includes strengthened connections from Brussels to Marrakech and Agadir, alongside the introduction of new routes to Fès and Essaouira. Flights from Rotterdam and Eindhoven to Morocco will also continue, although operations from Eindhoven will be temporarily relocated to Maastricht due to construction at the airport starting in early 2027.
Earlier this year, TUI Fly Belgium withdrew its operations from Liège Airport and has announced plans to cease activities at Antwerp Airport by the end of March 2027. The airline had also shut down its long-haul base in Brussels in November 2025, following the closure of its Charleroi base in November 2023. As reported, inquiries directed towards the Airports of Paris, Lille Airport, Bologna Airport, the National Airports Office, and TUI Belgium have gone unanswered as of this writing.
As reported by mobilithib.substack.com.
