Royal Air Maroc's Oneworld membership will begin in April

Oneworld, the airline alliance anchored by American Airlines and British Airways, announced Wednesday that Royal Air Maroc will officially join the group starting April 1.

Royal Air Maroc will be the first African airline to join Oneworld, and its inclusion in the group was first tentatively announced in December 2018.

“We are honored and delighted to welcome Royal Air Maroc into the alliance, adding our first full member in the fast-growing African continent. The quality service and global network offered by Royal Air Maroc will position Oneworld as the preferred alliance in Africa, where Casablanca is a leading global financial center,” Oneworld CEO Rob Gurney said in a statement.

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Royal Air Maroc, the first new airline to become a full Oneworld member since 2014, carried about 7.5 million passengers in 2019.

Royal Air Maroc had previously announced a codeshare partnership with American Airlines, a move that came as Royal Air Maroc worked toward membership in the alliance during a 15-month "implementation program." With the codeshare agreement, American and Royal Air Maroc can sell tickets on each other's flights under their own flight numbers. American also recently announced its first service to Africa.

With a hub at Casablanca, Royal Air Maroc will give American and its other Oneworld partners more access to destinations in Morocco and Africa. Royal Air Maroc currently flies from Casablanca to four U.S. destinations: Boston, Miami, New York JFK and Washington Dulles.

Related: What Royal Air Maroc joining Oneworld means for American Airlines flyers

The other full members of Oneworld are Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LATAM, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian, SriLankan and Russian carrier S7.

Qatar Airways was the most recent airline to join as a full member, gaining entry in 2012. But the group also will lose a member later this year with South American giant LATAM. That carrier said it will leave the group — likely by October — after Delta acquired a stake in LATAM, which had previously been aligned with American — a founding member of Oneworld.

TPG previously reported that Royal Air Maroc would become part of Oneworld on March 31.

Related:Shocker! Delta to take 20% stake in LATAM, which will leave Oneworld Alliance