Casablanca–Anfa Airport jet aircraft and has become Casablanca's primary airport. During World War II, Anfa Airport was taken over by the Vichy French government and used as an airport as well as an air base for the Vichy French Air Force () with its limited aircraft allowed by the armistice with Nazi Germany. It was also used by Deutsche Luft Hansa and German military transports and was depicted in the fictional 1942 film "Casablanca". Anfa Airport was one of the primary Allied objectives during Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa, and was seized in the initial landings in the Casablanca area.
Casablanca which is "Ad-dar Al Baidaa"', although Arabic also has its own version of Casablanca (كازابلانكا, "Kāzāblānkā"). The city is still nicknamed "Casa" by many locals and outsiders to the city. In many other cities with a different dialect, it is called "Ad-dar Al-Bida", instead. The area which is today Casablanca was founded and settled by Berbers by at least the seventh century BC. It was used as a port by the Phoenicians and later the Romans. In his book Description of Africa, Leo Africanus refers to ancient Casablanca as "Anfa", a great city founded in the Berber kingdom of Barghawata