The number
MAD 29 billion ($3 billion) in aerospace exports in 2025, according to GIMAS, the Moroccan aerospace industry association. That is a sixfold increase from 2010 and a 12% jump from 2024.
Context
Morocco's aerospace sector barely existed 15 years ago. In 2010, aerospace exports totalled roughly MAD 5 billion, mostly wiring harnesses and small cabin components assembled in a handful of factories near Casablanca. The government bet that proximity to Europe, competitive labor costs, and a dedicated free zone could replicate what Mexico had built for North American aviation supply chains.
That bet paid off. Today, over 150 companies operate in Morocco's aerospace ecosystem, employing more than 25,000 people across Casablanca's Midparc Free Zone, Nouasseur, and a growing cluster in Tangier. The roster includes Boeing, Bombardier, Hexcel, Collins Aerospace, Stelia (now Airbus Atlantic), and Matis Aerospace.
The growth rate has been consistent: approximately 15% annually since 2015. That compounds dramatically. Exports tripled between 2015 and 2025, a trajectory that held even after the COVID-19 disruption in 2020, when exports dipped to MAD 14.1 billion before recovering within 18 months.
Morocco aerospace exports, MAD billions. Red bar: COVID-19 disruption. Source: GIMAS
Trend
Up 12% year-on-year, consistent with the decade-long trajectory but signaling a subtle shift underneath the headline number.
The growth engine is changing. Between 2010 and 2018, expansion came from volume: more companies setting up operations, more assembly lines opening, more wiring harnesses shipped. Since 2022, the growth increasingly comes from value. Companies already in Morocco are moving into higher-margin products: engine nacelle components, composite structures, and now, with Safran's announced €280 million investment, safety-critical landing gear for the Airbus A320.
That transition matters because higher-value manufacturing is stickier. Once Safran builds a landing gear plant with a 2029 production start, it creates decades of operational commitment and pulls its own supplier network into the country.
Why it matters
Three numbers put this trajectory in perspective for investors and analysts watching North Africa.
6x in 15 years. Morocco's aerospace exports multiplied sixfold between 2010 and 2025. Few industrial sectors in emerging markets have sustained that pace outside of China's solar panel manufacturing and India's pharmaceutical exports.
25,000 jobs at an average salary 3x Morocco's median. Aerospace manufacturing pays well by local standards, which means the sector is building a middle-class workforce with spending power. For Morocco's broader economic strategy, aerospace is proof that industrial policy can move a country up the value chain within a generation.
150+ companies, but concentration risk remains. The ecosystem depends heavily on Airbus and its Tier 1 suppliers. A sustained slowdown in A320 orders, or a shift in Airbus sourcing toward Eastern Europe or India, would expose Morocco's reliance on a single OEM ecosystem. Diversification toward Boeing programs and defense contracts is underway but still early.
The 2020 COVID dip, visible in the chart, tested this concentration risk. Exports fell 10% as Airbus slashed production rates. The recovery took 18 months, faster than most analysts expected, largely because Morocco's labor cost advantage kept it competitive when airlines restarted fleet renewals.
Sources: GIMAS 2025 annual report; Ministry of Industry and Trade, Morocco (2025); Safran corporate communications (February 2026); Oxford Business Group, Morocco Aviation Report (2024)
