Marrakech-Menara Airport (French: Aéroport Marrakech Ménara, (IATA: RAK, ICAO: GMMX) is an airport serving Marrakech, the capital city of the Marrakech-Tensift-El Haouz region in Morocco. It is an international facility that receives some European flights as well as flights from Casablanca and some of the Arab world nations. The airport served over 3.1 million passengers in the year 2008.
History:
During World War II, the airport was used by the United States Army Air Force Air Transport Command as a hub for cargo, transiting aircraft and personnel. It functioned as a stopover en-route to Casablanca Airfield or to Agadir Airport on the North African Cairo-Dakar transport route for cargo, transiting aircraft and personnel.
Facilities:
Aircraft parking space of 125,000 square metres (1,345,489 sq ft) supports up to fourteen Boeing 737s and four Boeing 747s. The air terminals (1 and 2) are 22,000 m2 (236,806 sq ft) and designed to handle 2,500,000 passengers per year. The cargo terminal is 340 m2 (3,660 sq ft) of covered space.
The paved runway is laid out in the direction 10/28 (almost East-West) is 3,100 by 45 metres (10,171 × 148 ft). It can receive all modern jetliners up to the Boeing 747 in size. The airport is equipped with an ILS Cat II landing system and offers the following radio navigation aids: VOR - DME - NDB.