Royal Air Maroc (AT, Casablanca Mohamed V) is weighing up its options apropos possible airline alliances with a decision likely due early next year. Saida Najioullah, Royal Air Maroc’s vice president, marketing, told Gulf News in Dubai last week that joining an alliance would improve his airline's corporate offering and access to Asia.

Najioullah said the airline was yet to decide which alliance it could join and also that it was not just considering signing up to one of the big three major alliances namely Star Alliance, Oneworld, and Skyteam.

Using its Casablanca Mohamed V hub, Royal Air Maroc offers extensive coverage of West and Central Africa with comparable connectivity in Europe. However, according to Najioullah, the carrier is now also considering flights to East Africa with Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta a distinct possibility.

With the arrival of its first B787-8s due before year-end, the launch of flights to Tanzania and Kenya would allow Royal Air Maroc to tap into the safari tourism market, as well as the African diaspora resident in the United States, ahead of Kenya Airways (KQ, Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta).