Ryanair is no stranger to controversy, but a recent move has drawn it into the crossfire of one of the world’s oldest conflicts.
Earlier this year, the Irish airline launched direct flights from Madrid and the Spanish island of Lanzarote to Dakhla, a seemingly picturesque coastal town surrounded by a vast expanse of golden sand.
It sounds idyllic, but this is a complex place. Dakhla is in Western Sahara, a tract of desert the size of Britain that tribal chieftains and three countries have fought over for centuries. Who it belongs to remains bitterly disputed.
Despite this, Ryanair is now flying into fiercely contested territory and the heart of Africa’s longest-running geopolitical conflict.
And, according to data seen by Metro, it’s doing so with a lot of empty seats. Why?
Big plans, bigger problems
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For years, Michael O’Leary’s planes have flown into Morocco’s holiday hotspots, from the bustling souks of Marrakesh and Fez to the sweeping coastlines of Agadir and Essaouira.
In January, the airline made a gushing announcement about Dakhla, its newest route, saying it was ‘excited to enhance Morocco’s connectivity and investment in the Kingdom, driving tourism and economic growth in yet another Moroccan region’.
However, Dakhla is more complicated than simply ‘Morocco’.
Western Sahara, Africa’s last colony, was annexed by Morocco when the Spanish withdrew in 1975, leaving its future uncertain.
In the aftermath, Morocco organised something called the ‘Green March’, which saw thousands of Moroccans enter Western Sahara and declare control. But the move faced resistance from the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) and its military wing, the Polisario Front, and a conflict broke out.
This Algeria-backed Indigenous liberation movement claims to represent the indigenous Sahrawi (Saharan) people, and wants to make Western Sahara an independent state.
Today, however, around 80% of the area is controlled by the Moroccan government in Rabat.
The UN, meanwhile, recognises neither’s sovereignty. It regards Western Sahara as a ‘non-self-governing territory’, in the same way it does Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands – run by an outside power, usually another, more powerful country.
In simple terms, the people who live in them do not have complete political rights or an independent government.
Although armed conflict was quelled by a UN-brokered ceasefire in 1991, nearly three decades later it reignited when Morocco deployed its military to stop a Sahrawi protest in 2020. In response, the Polisario Front abandoned the ceasefire.
Like we said, it’s complicated.
Fast forward to 2025 and Ryanair’s new route, and the Polisario Front has accused them and other airlines – including Transavia and the Spanish carrier Binter – of breaking international law by flying into Dakhla.
They claim that any agreement to fly there must be approved by both parties involved — the Polisario Front and the Moroccan government — and that has not happened.
Last year, the European Court of Justice also ruled in favour of the Polisario Front, saying that EU-Morocco aviation agreements were signed without the consent of the Sahrawi people.
But planes have taken off anyway.
María Carrión, executive director of the Western Sahara International Film Festival (FiSahara), says there is a concerted effort to turn Dakhla into a tourist paradise, a move she warns could normalise decades of repression.
‘Airlines are playing directly into Morocco’s playbook,’ she tells Metro.
‘If you want to buy a plane ticket to Dakhla from Spain or France, you don’t see Western Sahara mentioned anywhere on the destination information; it says Morocco. It’s normalising something denounced as illegal under international law.’
Ryanair eventually responded to repeated requests for comment. A spokesperson told Metro that its operations on the route ‘comply with all applicable aviation regulations’, without giving further details.
Empty seats
So how many people are visiting?
Very few, if load factors are anything to go by.
Load factor is the percentage of seats filled on an aircraft. AENA, the operator of Spain’s national airports, publishes this information for flights to and from the country.
Data seen by Metro reveals that in January – the month Ryanair launched flights to Dakhla – planes flew from Lanzarote with 13.69% occupancy. By March, that had fallen to just above 9%.
Madrid, by comparison, was a success: 56.81% in January, falling to 31.94% in March.
However, that same month, Ryanair had an average load factor of 93% across its network. Industry experts say anything below 70% can put a route at risk.
By June, the Lanzarote-Dakhla route recorded just 12.24% occupancy, and even in July, peak season for Spanish airports, it climbed only slightly to 17.05%.
So why are planes still flying?
Victor Currás, a Spanish journalist who writes about politics and transport, has been investigating what he describes as ‘this curious case’.
‘[The load factors] are among the lowest I’ve ever seen for a regular commercial flight, even worse than during the pandemic,’ he tells Metro.
Industry experts are similarly stumped.
‘In the long run, it makes absolutely no sense,’ says Jaroslaw Grabczak, Head of Commercial Product at Thomas Cook and eSky Group.
‘I’m not sure if Morocco is essentially guaranteeing that the service will be profitable for Ryanair by making up any shortfall in revenue, or what the agreement is.
‘That’s what will determine how long this route sticks around, because Ryanair isn’t in the business of operating routes with 9% load factors.
‘Morocco is winning because it has bought everybody off.’
Metro put these claims to Visit Morocco, the country’s tourism board, but they didn’t respond.
A tourist paradise?
Dakhla is a sun-soaked beach town with excellent oysters, a surprisingly temperate climate and a coastline prime for water sports.
Last year, it even hosted one round of the Kite Surf World Cup.
The region is rich in Saharan culture, and there are boutique hotels, eco-lodges and tours with travel firms that offer a glimpse into fascinating Sahrawi tradition.
Local operators describe it as the ‘safest place in Morocco’.
Meanwhile, the Moroccan government has big plans backed by the Trump administration to transform Dakhla into a mainstream, megawatt tourist destination.
Ivanka Trump holidayed there with her husband, Jared Kushner, in July 2022, and provoked controversy by sharing an Instagram photo simply captioned: ‘Morocco.’
The post, which was assumed to be making a pro-Moroccan political statement, was criticised by human rights organisations and pro-Sahrawi activists.
Now, Ryanair finds itself at the heart of discourse on this divisive territory.
In December, Morocco’s Minister of Tourism, Fatim-Zahra Ammor, announced the new route in this cheery LinkedIn post:
I’m thrilled to announce that starting January 2025, Ryanair – Europe’s Favourite Airline will be operating new routes connecting Dakhla to Madrid and Lanzarote. With two weekly flights to each city, we’re adding 16,000 new seats and boosting Dakhla’s capacity by an incredible 50%! This expansion is a game-changer for Dakhla, which is fast becoming a world-class water sports paradise. With Ryanair, we’re well on our way to achieving our ambitious goal of four international flight connections for Dakhla within two years.
But the glossy spin belies dark accusations.
Critics of the Moroccan government say it is trying to swamp the Sahrawi population of Western Sahara by resettling tens of thousands of Moroccans in Dakhla and Laayoune, the regional capital.
Independent observers have been refused access to refugee camps in the territory, and accusations of human rights abuses have been levelled at both the Moroccan government and the Polisario Front.
In a report last year, UN Secretary-General noted that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) had not been granted access to the territory since 2015.
It said the OHCHR ‘continued to receive allegations relating to human rights violations, including intimidation, surveillance and discrimination against Sahrawi individuals particularly when advocating for self-determination’.
Earlier this year, the organisers of María Carrión’s FiSahara criticised Christopher Nolan for shooting part of his adaptation of the Odyssey in Dakhla.
The film festival’s representatives said the presence of the acclaimed director’s A-list cast, which includes Matt Damon, Lupita Nyong’o, Zendaya and Anne Hathaway, will help to whitewash the 50-year Moroccan occupation.
‘We don’t know if the crew from the Odyssey understood the full implications of filming a high-profile film in a territory whose Indigenous peoples cannot make their own films about their stories under occupation,’ María says. ‘I don’t think they expected the level of negative publicity.’
She adds: ‘A lot of people do actually think Dakhla is in Morocco, they don’t see anything wrong with going there because they simply don’t know.
‘Morocco does a lot to make it seem like a fabulous destination – but there’s a matter of conscience and legality, too.
‘Nobody imagined 50 years ago that this situation would still not be resolved.’
Nolan’s representatives did not return requests for comment.
What does the UK Foreign Office say about travelling to Western Sahara?
The FCDO advises against all travel to parts of Western Sahara, namely anywhere within 30km of ‘the Berm’ boundary line, which borders Morocco, Algeria and Mauritania.
The FCDO does not advise against travel to Dakhla, which is on the coast, but travellers are advised to check for any updates before travelling.
