On 20 January 2012 the new Terminal 1 building was inaugurated, and the old terminal building closed. The terminal is 16,000 m² large and has a maximum capacity of 3.5 million passengers/year, more than twice the capacity of the old terminal. The public area offers car rental agencies, banks, ATM, café-bar with small kiosk, phone/fax service. The departure lounge offers a café-bar, duty-free shop, telephones, smoking lounge. Access to the airport is possible by taxi or Bus or private car; parking space is available. Rabat–Salé is one of the six airports in Morocco where ONDA offers its special VIP service Salon Convives de Marque. The freight-terminal covers an area of 1360 m².
The single runway lies in direction 03/21, and is 3,500 meters long and 45 meters wide. The airport has an ILS Class 1 certification and offers the following radionavigational aids: VOR – DME – NDB
Airlines and destinations
Ground transportation
To get from the airport to city center Rabat:
by taxi for 200 Dh about 20 euro.
by airport bus shuttle: Express bus shuttle from the airport to the central train station Rabat City and also to the train station Rabat Agdal, priced at 25 dhs, about 2,50 euros.
operated by ALSA. Scheduled departures correspond with flight arrivals/departures. FROM the airport : 30 minutes after flight arrival. TO the airport: 3 hours before flight departure.
by private shuttle: Private shuttle from the airport to Rabat center, priced between 300 and 500 dhs, about 30 and 50 euros.
by local bus: Line No. 2, but you have to walk outside, out of the airport, 5 minutes walk to the bus station next to supermarket ATACADAO Bus ticket price is 5 dh about 0, 50 euro.
Statistics
Incidents and accidents
On 12 July 1961, a Czech AirlinesIlyushin Il-18 en route from Zurich Airport to Rabat–Salé Airport diverted to Casablanca Anfa Airport after receiving weather info indicating ground fog at Rabat–Salé. As the conditions at GMMC were also poor the captain of the plane asked permission to land at Casablanca–Nouasseur, then a USAF base. While GMMC controllers contacted American authorities the plane crashed 13 km SSW of GMMC. All 72 on board died. The exact reason for the crash was never discovered.
On 12 September 1961, an Air FranceSud Aviation Caravelle was en route from Paris–Orly to Rabat–Salé Airport. The weather conditions at the time were non-favourable: thick fog and low visibility. The pilot informed traffic control it intended to land using the non-directional beacon. Traffic control warned the pilot that the NDB was not in-line with the runway, but this message received no response. The aircraft crashed 9 km SSW of the airport. All 77 on board died. The exact reason was never discovered but investigators reported errors in instrument reading as the most likely reason.
