Mohammed V International Airport
Facts on CMN
Casablanca's airport code CMN traces back to Nouasseur, the site southeast of the city where the US Air Force ran Nouasseur Air Base as a Strategic Air Command bomber staging post during the early Cold War before it became today's civilian Mohammed V International Airport.
Source: Wikipedia
The airport is named for King Mohammed V (1909-1961), who was the last sultan and first king of independent Morocco, a figure so central to the country's independence movement that dozens of streets, squares and institutions across Morocco -- including this airport -- carry his name.
Source: Wikipedia
The airport's namesake was twice sent out of his own country: in 1953 French colonial authorities deposed Mohammed V and exiled him first to Corsica and then Madagascar; his triumphant return in November 1955 was widely seen as marking the end of colonial rule, and France and Spain granted Moroccan independence the following year.
Source: Wikipedia
Before it became Nouasseur Air Base, the airfield started life in 1943 as Berrechid Airfield, built by the United States right after the Operation Torch landings, serving as an auxiliary strip for Casablanca's older Anfa Airport.
Source: Wikipedia
After Moroccan independence, the new government pressed the United States to withdraw from Nouasseur Air Base, the site that became today's civilian airport; the US agreed in December 1959 and had fully departed Morocco's bases by 1963.
Source: Wikipedia
In May 2025 Morocco's airports authority launched a $1.6 billion tender for a new H-shaped 'hub-style' terminal at Mohammed V Airport, aiming to nearly triple capacity from about 15 million to 35 million passengers a year in time for the 2030 World Cup.
Source: Wikipedia
With about 7.6 million passengers in 2022, Mohammed V International was the busiest airport in Morocco and ranked among Africa's ten busiest, serving as the hub for Royal Air Maroc, Royal Air Maroc Express and Air Arabia Maroc.
Source: Wikipedia
The Al Bidaoui train service, run by Morocco's national railway ONCF, connects the airport hourly between 4 a.m. and 11 p.m. to Casablanca's two main stations, Casa-Port and Casa-Voyageurs.
Source: Wikipedia