Fes Saïss International Airport

Fès–Saïss Airport is the principal airport of Fès, Morocco's historical and cultural capital, and the fourth-busiest airport in the country after Casablanca, Marrakech, and Agadir, handling roughly 1.7 million passengers annually. FEZ serves a catchment that includes Fès itself (population 1.2 million), Meknès 60 km (37 mi) west, and the broader Saïss plain, as well as the traditional southern gateway to the Middle Atlas and Rif mountains. The airport's traffic has grown substantially in the 2010s as European low-cost carriers established base operations serving the Moroccan diaspora and the revival of European tourism to Fès, whose UNESCO-listed medina is the largest car-free urban area in the world. FEZ is served by Ryanair (a significant base operator with scheduled routes to more than 20 European cities), Air Arabia Maroc, TUI fly, Transavia France, and Royal Air Maroc, with Paris, Marseille, Madrid, Barcelona, London, Milan, Brussels, Lyon, and Frankfurt providing the main European connections. Royal Air Maroc and its subsidiary Air Arabia Maroc dominate domestic Moroccan flows, with connections to Casablanca and onward to sub-Saharan Africa and the Gulf. A single runway, 09/27, measures 10,499 ft (3,200 m) and accommodates 737, A320, and smaller widebody equipment. The modern passenger terminal, progressively expanded through the 2010s under ONDA (Office National des Aéroports) investment, provides seven jet bridges and modern security and immigration facilities. FEZ sits 15 km (9 mi) south of Fès city center in the Saïss agricultural plain at an elevation of 1,896 ft (578 m). The airport is named 'Saïss' after the fertile plain in which it sits; Fès itself lies in the foothills of the Middle Atlas.