Beni Mellal Airport — Oulad Yaich, Morocco

Beni Mellal Airport is filed under the code BEM and serves Oulad Yaich, a commune just outside Beni Mellal in central Morocco's Béni Mellal-Khénifra region. The field rests at 1,694 feet above sea level, considerably higher than Morocco's coastal airports, reflecting its position near the foothills of the Middle Atlas mountains. A single runway handles the airport's traffic, which connects this agricultural region to Casablanca and other domestic points rather than serving as an international hub. Beni Mellal sits on the fertile Tadla plain, an area long irrigated for olive groves and citrus orchards fed by rivers descending from the Atlas range. Despite its formal classification as a large airport in aviation databases, BEM remains a modest regional facility compared to Morocco's coastal gateways in Casablanca, Marrakech, and Agadir. For residents of the Tadla-Azilal area, this airport offers the closest air link without a lengthy drive over the mountains to reach a bigger terminal elsewhere in the kingdom.