Boeing has delivered the first of four 787-9s ordered by North African carrier Royal Air Maroc.
The airline already has five 787-8s in service and was, Boeing notes, the "first in the Mediterranean" to operate that smaller variant when it started doing so in 2015.
With the -8s, Royal Air Maroc was able to programme new routes linking Casablanca with Miami and Washington DC.
The -9s are to be deployed on routes from the same Moroccan city to Paris Orly, New York JFK and Sao Paulo.
Boeing notes that the first of the -9s is adorned with "a special livery that honours contemporary Moroccan culture". Within a new interior, business-class passengers have three seat options, including "full flat" and "full privacy".
Ihssane Mounir, a senior vice-president of commercial sales and marketing with Boeing, highlights the manufacturer's near-50-year partnership with Royal Air Maroc. In addition to "providing the airline with generations of advanced jetliners", the US airframer has been "helping Morocco harness a homegrown aerospace sector to sustain long-term growth", says Mounir.
This has involved Boeing's participation in a joint venture, MATIS Aerospace, which produces wire bundles and wire harnesss for new aircraft. The airframer notes also its involvement in education partnerships with EFE-Morocco and the INJAZ Al-Maghrib association
A first 737 Max narrowbody is to be delivered to Royal Air Maroc later this month. This will "join a fleet of more than 60 Boeing airplanes", says the manufacturer. Flight Fleets Analyzer indicates that these are mostly 737NGs but also include 767 and 747 aircraft.
Royal Air Maroc is a customer for Boeing Global Services' cloud-based Software Distribution Manager, which facilitates a secure flow of operational data to and from aircraft when they are on the ground.
Source: Cirium Dashboard