The management of the airspace over the Moroccan Sahara has returned to the forefront of debate, as Spain continues to provide air navigation services in the area from the Canary Islands, while press reports point to an expanding range of Moroccan measures directly affecting the use of certain parts of that airspace. The issue goes beyond the technical allocation of air traffic control duties. It involves international arrangements inherited from an earlier period, Moroccan-Spanish negotiations launched in 2022, and a transfer of management whose completion has not been officially announced in the available reporting.
On 25 December 2024, the Spanish newspaper El Independiente published a report stating that Morocco was exercising effective control over between 15 and 20 percent of the airspace concerned. The newspaper based its account on sources it described as reliable and on information concerning the establishment of danger areas and Moroccan measures affecting the management of certain airspaces around airports. The percentage remains a journalistic estimate attributed to the newspaper’s sources, however, rather than an official announcement confirming that responsibility for the entire airspace has been transferred to Morocco.
That distinction is essential. The provision of air navigation services is not the same as sovereignty over airspace, just as operational measures taken within a particular area do not, by themselves, establish that international responsibility for air traffic control services has been transferred. The issue involves different layers of responsibility. Confusing them risks turning a technical or operational development into a political or legal conclusion that the published evidence does not establish.
From the Canary Islands to Agadir: Where Do the Negotiations Stand?
Reports published by the Spanish press in October 2026 have brought the issue back into focus, nearly two years after articles pointed to the prospect of a new arrangement between Rabat and Madrid. The Spanish newspaper AS reported that Spain continued to manage the airspace over the Sahara from its air traffic control centre in the Canary Islands, across an area estimated at approximately 266,000 square kilometres, nearly half a century after Spain withdrew its administration from the territory in 1976.
The Spanish arrangement is based on air navigation services associated with a Flight Information Region, commonly known as a FIR. Such a region is a defined area within which flight information and alerting services are provided. The existence of these arrangements does not, in itself, constitute a final determination of territorial sovereignty. Responsibility for providing aviation services must be distinguished from the political and legal status of the territory.
Spain’s public air navigation service provider, ENAIRE, manages services within its operational remit in the Canary Islands region. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a United Nations specialized agency, provides the international framework within which flight information regions and the allocation of related service responsibilities are organized. The distinctive feature of this case is that these arrangements have continued despite changes in the political and administrative reality on the ground.
Morocco, meanwhile, has expanded its operational role in managing air traffic over the Kingdom’s southern provinces, alongside its administration of the region’s principal airports and the development of their infrastructure. The December 2024 report by El Independiente referred to the establishment of danger areas linked to certain military activities, changes to published aeronautical data and references, and communication difficulties involving some airports and the Canary Islands control centre.
The newspaper attributed these details to sources and an internal document it associated with the Spanish side. They should therefore not be presented as an official Moroccan declaration that responsibility for the entire airspace has been assumed.
This overlap between existing management arrangements and operational measures on the ground helps explain why moving to a new system would involve more than transferring duties from one control centre to another. Any reorganization of air navigation services requires precise technical arrangements, coordination on flight safety, communications and aeronautical information, and a clear allocation of responsibilities in the event of an incident or emergency.
The April 2022 Agreement: What Was Actually Agreed?
The central political reference point for this issue is the joint declaration adopted by Morocco and Spain on 7 April 2022, following talks in Rabat between His Majesty King Mohammed VI and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
The declaration’s seventh point committed the two countries to opening discussions on the management of airspace. That commitment formed part of a new phase in bilateral relations covering political, economic and security matters, following Spain’s announced shift in its position on the Moroccan Sahara question. Madrid had described Morocco’s autonomy initiative as the most serious, realistic and credible basis for resolving the dispute.
The wording of the declaration matters. It referred to the opening of discussions on airspace management; it did not announce a transfer of responsibility on a specified date, nor did it establish a publicly announced timetable for implementation.
In March 2023, the Spanish government acknowledged in a parliamentary response that discussions with Morocco had begun. It said their purpose was to improve coordination between the two sides and strengthen communications safety and technical cooperation. In April 2024, Spanish press reports citing a government response referred to two meetings of the air cooperation commission during the preceding two years, without announcing a final agreement on transferring management of the airspace over the Sahara.
The proposal for a new air traffic centre in Agadir, which could take responsibility for the southern sector following a possible division of Moroccan airspace into northern and southern areas, was discussed in Moroccan press reports in 2024. Those reports described preparations for a potential transfer. The existence of a technical proposal or preparations for a control centre, however, is not sufficient to establish that the transfer has been finalized or entered into force. That would require official confirmation of the arrangements adopted and the date on which they would take effect.
Agadir’s geographical position and operational potential make it a possible hub for managing air traffic between the northern part of the Kingdom and its southern provinces. The centre’s final role, the operational boundaries of the area it would manage, and the coordination arrangements with existing facilities remain dependent on official agreements between the two countries.
Why Does the Issue Carry Strategic Weight?
The significance of the airspace over the Moroccan Sahara extends beyond monitoring aircraft in transit. Air connectivity between the southern provinces and the rest of the Kingdom is linked to airport development, the expansion of domestic and international routes, tourism, investment, and the needs of economic activity along the Atlantic coast.
As these activities expand, the need for an integrated aviation system becomes more pressing. Such a system requires timely information exchange, effective coordination and a clear division of operational responsibilities. Strengthening air traffic management capabilities in Agadir, if the necessary arrangements for implementation are completed, could therefore form part of a broader modernization of the Kingdom’s aviation infrastructure rather than remain an isolated administrative measure disconnected from development in the southern provinces.
Some circles in the Canary Islands, meanwhile, approach the issue from a different perspective, focusing on aviation safety and the possible economic implications of changing the arrangements governing the airspace around the archipelago. Spanish media have reported concerns that a change in the authority responsible for air navigation services could affect coordination, communications and traffic flows. These concerns reflect positions expressed by certain Spanish stakeholders; they do not, on their own, establish that any future change would necessarily disrupt air traffic.
The issue also raises questions about the clarity of official communication between the two governments. Reports repeatedly suggesting that a transfer is imminent, while Spanish management remains in place, leave considerable room for interpretation, particularly when details about the results of negotiations and the technical stages already completed are not publicly available.
The continuation of Spanish management does not mean that negotiations have stopped. Equally, the Moroccan measures described in press reports do not prove that the transfer of responsibility has been completed. The available reporting establishes that the issue has been the subject of bilateral discussions and that, according to the latest Spanish reports, the arrangements governing air navigation services have not yet been fully changed.
The next decisive step would be an official announcement specifying the nature of the new arrangements, the scope of the responsibilities to be assumed by Moroccan authorities, the coordination mechanisms with Spain, and the timetable for implementation. Until those elements are clarified, the airspace over the Moroccan Sahara will remain an issue in which an evolving operational reality coexists with established international arrangements and bilateral negotiations whose final outcome has not been announced.
