Nouaceur – (Timeline News) : His Majesty King Mohammed VI, accompanied by HRH Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan, chaired, Monday in Nouaceur, the ceremony of presentation and launch of the construction works of the industrial complex of “aircraft engines” of the Safran group, a structuring project which reinforces the vocation of Morocco as a global strategic hub of the aeronautics industry.
This Complex, which will be located within the integrated industrial platform dedicated to the aeronautics and space sectors “Midparc” in Nouaceur, will include an assembly and testing plant for Safran group aircraft engines and another dedicated to the maintenance and repair activities of new generation LEAP (Leading Edge Aviation Propulsion) aircraft engines.
Much more than an industrial investment, these two new benchmark sites, efficient, innovative and sustainable, strengthen the relationship of excellence and the exceptional partnership between Safran and Morocco and demonstrate the firm desire of His Majesty the King to raise the aeronautics sector to the highest levels of technological competitiveness.
At the beginning of this ceremony, an institutional film was shown retracing the development of the aeronautics sector, one of Morocco’s global businesses, in recent years, thanks to the bold reforms and structuring projects initiated by the Sovereign.
On this occasion, the Minister of Industry and Trade, Ryad Mezzour, delivered a speech before the Sovereign in which he affirmed that thanks to the enlightened Vision of HM the King, Morocco has established itself as an essential global destination in cutting-edge sectors, noting that in less than two decades, and thanks to the ambitious, successive and complementary strategies led by the Sovereign, the Kingdom has built a world-class aeronautics industry.
The sector’s export turnover has made a significant leap, “rising from less than one billion dirhams in 2004 to more than 26 billion dirhams in 2024,” Mezzour said, stressing that this sector now brings together more than 150 players, including the largest global operators, and represents a true showcase of national industrial know-how.
Mezzour also recalled that the Safran Group, a long-standing partner of the Kingdom for 25 years, is today renewing its confidence in the Moroccan platform, through the implementation of a world-class integrated complex for the assembly, testing, maintenance and repair of aircraft engines.
According to Mezzour, this involves the establishment of an aircraft engine maintenance and repair plant (1.3 billion dirhams), with a maintenance capacity of 150 engines per year and enabling the creation of 600 direct jobs by 2030. It also involves the development of an assembly and testing plant for LEAP-1A aircraft engines, which will notably equip Airbus A320 Neo aircraft models, Mr. Mezzour said. With an assembly capacity of 350 engines per year, this investment of 2.1 billion dirhams will generate 300 highly qualified jobs by 2029, he assured.
The second production site for the LEAP-1A engine in the world, this project will help to permanently anchor the Kingdom in the global value chain of aeronautical engine manufacturers and will, in its wake, bring new equipment manufacturers into the national ecosystem, observed the minister, noting that the aeronautical industry makes its capacity to create sustainable and qualified jobs for young people its primary challenge.
For his part, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Safran Group, Ross McInnes, stressed that the presence of HM the King at this ceremony has a profound significance for his group, noting that it demonstrates not only the interest that the Sovereign grants to the industrial development of the Kingdom, but also the exemplary investment environment that HM the King continues to promote, through an enlightened, bold and forward-looking vision.
Highlighting the excellent economic and industrial relations between France and the Kingdom of Morocco, McInnes assured that his Group “does not produce in Morocco but with Morocco,” a strategic country in many respects for Safran.
On this occasion, he reiterated the Safran Group’s determination to maintain this strong link with the Kingdom, affirming that “together, we are committed to the development and economic acceleration of the Moroccan aeronautics sector.”
In the same vein, the CEO of the Safran Group, Olivier Andriès, assured that the choice to establish the new Safran aircraft engine industrial complex in Morocco was not accidental, emphasizing that his group had thus “chosen a country with talent, modern infrastructure and a stable macroeconomic framework.”. “But above all, we were guided by the confidence inspired in us by the dynamic driven by Your Majesty to make the Kingdom a globally competitive industrial platform,” he said.
“Today, these two projects and the ongoing expansions at three other of our sites represent an investment of more than 350 million euros and will create thousands of jobs for the entire aeronautical ecosystem in the Kingdom,” continued Andriès.
Subsequently, the King Mohammed VI presided over the signing ceremony of three agreements:
The first is a memorandum of understanding, which sets out the commitments of the two partners, the State and the Safran group, for the installation of the French group’s aircraft engine assembly and testing plant.
It was signed by Messrs. Ryad Mezzour, Karim Zidane, Minister Delegate to the Head of Government, responsible for Investment, Convergence and Evaluation of Public Policies, and Olivier Andriès.
The second is a memorandum of understanding relating to the supply of renewable energy to Safran sites.
It was signed by Abdelouafi Laftit, Minister of the Interior, Ryad Mezzour, Mohamed Ouhmed, Secretary General of the Department of Energy Transition, Olivier Andriès, Youssef Ettazi, Director General of the Casablanca-Settat Regional Multi-Service Company, Fatima Guennouni, Director General of the Rabat-Salé-Kénitra Regional Multi-Service Company, and Adil Khamis, Director General of Energie Eolienne du Maroc-Nareva.
The third agreement is an agreement to establish the Safran group’s aircraft engine assembly and testing plant in Midparc.
It was signed by Khalid Safir, Director General of the Caisse de Dépôt et de Gestion, Stéphane Cueille, President of Safran Aircraft Engines, Marouane Abdelati, Director General of MEDZ, and Hamid Benbrahim El Andaloussi, Chairman and CEO of Midparc.
Subsequently, the LEAP-1A aircraft engine, a new generation engine incorporating the most advanced innovations in materials and manufacturing processes, was unveiled before HM the King.
The King Mohammed VI then posed for a souvenir photo with a group of young people undergoing training at the Institute of Aeronautical Professions (IMA) in Nouaceur, to join the future aircraft engine maintenance plant, before launching construction work on the Safran Group’s “Aircraft Engines” industrial complex.
The world’s leading manufacturer of short and medium-haul aircraft engines and the world’s third-largest aeronautics player excluding aircraft manufacturers, the Safran group is strengthening its presence in Morocco, where it has chosen to establish itself for 25 years, thus demonstrating the growing power of the Moroccan aeronautical base built thanks to the far-sighted vision and leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI.
