Ryanair to launch flights to Western Sahara

This is not how you might have imagined the content of articles with the headline ‘Ryanair will fly to the most exotic country in its route network’. What is it? The Irish airline has decided to launch two routes from Spain: from Madrid and Lanzarote to Al-Dakhla, a city on the Atlantic Ocean. The route was announced on the occasion of the announcement of Ryanair's new agreement with the Moroccan Tourism Organisation. The flights will be inaugurated on 11 January 2025 and will operate twice a week: on Tuesdays and Saturdays. What's exotic about all this? That Dakhla is a city in the Western Sahara, an area of undetermined national status.

Ryanair will fly to Western Sahara

Dakhla is a picturesque city on the Yala Peninsula in the western part of Africa. It is located by the Atlantic Ocean and is a paradise for beachgoers and fans of water activities, especially surfers. The problem is that Western Sahara has an undetermined national status and a difficult history, as evidenced by the wave of comments under Ryanair's post announcing the new route on Instagram. Western Sahara is a territory mostly administratively controlled by Morocco and recognised by the country as its lands. The Polisario Front, a military and political independence organisation, takes a different view. With the support of Algeria, it seeks the independence of these territories. Hence the bad name of the Western Sahara and the controversy surrounding the new route.

Source: Rynair instagram