EgyptAir named at 2011 IATA world meeting hosts

Posted on 9 June 2010 in Events

EgyptAir will be the focus of air transport industry attention over the next year, with the 2011 IATA annual general meeting now confirmed to be hosted in Cairo. This follows the Star Alliance carrier hosting the Arab Air Carriers Organization's (AACO) yearly gathering in October.

“All air carriers compete to get such an opportunity,” EgyptAir holding company chairman Hussein Massoud told Arabian Aerospace, as the IATA AGM ended in Berlin yesterday.

Massoud said the events will highlight the Egyptian capital as a place for decision-makers to discuss strategy.

With the air transport industry facing many problems, he says, carrier representatives are drawn to high-level conferences. The popularity of the Berlin event is evidence of this, he added: “This gives an indication that, as long as there is a hot issue, people are interested in such meetings.”

EgyptAir is continuing to take delivery of new aircraft, with its first Airbus A330-300 due to arrive in August, several months earlier than originally planned, while four Boeing 737-800s and two more 777-300s will come later this year. Massoud says the carrier is in the next stage of its fleet-planning process, with the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 likely to be considered.

Meanwhile Air Arabia’s establishment of a base in Alexandria this month shows that national carrier is not immune to budget carrier competition.

But it has also highlighted an arrangement which prohibits private airlines such as Saudi Arabia’s Sama and NAS Air from operating to Cairo, even though technically the two countries have an ‘open skies’ pact. Massoud says: “You must continue the sentence: it’s open skies, but not when the parties will be hurt.”

This situation has led to a dispute, which started on 5 April when Saudi authorities banned EgyptAir from the Medina route, prompting a similar restriction against Saudi Arabian Airlines on the same route.

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flydubai increase Summer seasonal increase to Alexandria

flydubai from 20JUN10 to 19SEP10 is increasing Dubai – Alexandria service from 7 to 11 weekly. Schedules of extra flights as follows:

FZ8179 DXB2030 – 2325ALY 73H x135
FZ8180 ALY0020 – 0520DXB 73H x246

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EGYPTAIR 5th weekly to Osaka in March 2011

From 01MAR11, EGYPTAIR is increasing Cairo – Osaka Kansai service from 4 to 5 weekly. Inbound flight via Luxor in Winter 2010 season maintains 2 weekly.

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Mubarak opened Mubarak International Airport Sohag

President Mubarak has opened a complete new airport at the city of Sohag.
The airport is called: Mubarak International Airport Sohag.

It's a small airport with one runway and one modern, spacious terminal with a capacity of 400 passengers per hour.

Here are some pictures of the opening:

Air Arabia launches first flight out of Egypt

By Christopher Le Coq/Daily News Egypt June 1, 2010, 4:45 pm

CAIRO: Air Arabia, a regional low cost carrier, launched its Egypt operations Tuesday, with its first flight taking off from Alexandria, its third hub, to Khartoum.

The UAE-based carrier will also launch flights to Kuwait, Amman and Beirut, as well as to other destinations further afar within Europe, Africa and elsewhere in the Middle East.

In late 2009, Air Arabia formed a joint venture firm with Egypt's travel and hospitality group Travco with a start-up capital of $50 million. Travco Group has a 40 percent stake in the new firm while Air Arabia has 40 percent stake.

Adel Ali, Group CEO of Air Arabia, said that the new carrier will compliment their existing operations in the United Arab Emirates and Morocco, where it set up its first two hubs.

Hamed El Chiaty, chairman and CEO of Travco Group, said in a written statement, that the partnership “will contribute to the diversification of the domestic tourism industry, which is so vital to the Egyptian economy.”

Ali said: “Egypt has the biggest population in the Middle East, it is a major destination for tourists, geographically it is close to Europe and Africa, which will bring the Middle East and these two regions closer together, and finally, this decision fits within in our business model.”

Egypt, he said, will be a hub in the low-cost carriers’ global strategy.

“At the moment, we have a staff of 100 people and just two planes, with an objective of having four to six planes by the end of the year,” he pointed out.

Asked to what degree this will help create local jobs for Egyptians, Ali was quick to point to the company’s operations in the UAE. “When we started out in the UAE seven years ago, we had 1,000 employees. The number has grown to 7,000.”

“Each plane directly creates 70-80 jobs, but then there are jobs that are indirectly linked to our industry, such as taxis, restaurants, hotels and the like, bringing the actual number closer to 300-400 jobs per plane,” he told Daily News Egypt.

Ali underlined the potential for the development and expansion of low-cost travel in Egypt and in the rest of the region.

“Low-cost air travel represents 25 percent of the market in Europe, while a miniscule 7 percent in the Middle East.

“There is more significant demand for this type of travel for two fundamental reasons: first, on average middle-income revenues are lower in the Middle East than in Europe, making this type of travel highly attractive, and second, there is often no other viable travel option,” he said.

On how the airline’s business will develop in Egypt, Ali said their “strategy is to let it grow organically; part of the company’s success and ability to grow will be on traffic rights.”

He was also quick to point out that the government agencies involved in opening up Egypt’s airspace to foreign competition had been highly cooperative.

The entry into the Egyptian market builds on its existing services, which spans 60 countries across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

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Egyptair announces new Dubai service

Egyptair has announced it will launch a non-stop service from Dubai to Cairo starting June 18, 2010. The new daily service will be served with a new B777-300ER, the airline said.

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Wataniya Airways to start Alexandria flight from June 2010

Wataniya Airways from 01JUN10 begins 4 weekly Kuwait – Alexandria service in Egypt. Flight operates to/from Borg el Arab airport.

Schedule below:

KW331 KWI0730 – 1030HBE 320 x357
KW332 HBE1115 – 1405KWI 320 x357

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FlyDubai launch Assiut

Flydubai from 24MAY10 launches 3 weekly Dubai – Assiut in Egypt.

Dubai – Assiut
FZ181 DXB0030 – 0315ATZ 73H 135
FZ182 ATZ0400 – 0835DXB 73H 135

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Lufthansa 747 to Cairo in Winter 2010

As per 13MAY10 GDS timetable display, Lufthansa in Winter 2010 season is to operate Boeing 747-400 aircraft on Frankfurt – Cairo route. However, overall service reduce from 2 Daily to 1, which is identical to 2009 Winter but was operated by Airbus A340-600.

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EGYPTAIR W10 Operation Update: 777-300ER to New York

EGYPTAIR has further adjusted its planned 2010 Winter operation. Notable changes includes Boeing 777-300ER entering operation on New York market from January 2011.

As per 20MAY10 GDS timetable display, changes as follows:

Cairo – Abuja Operational day change. Eff 31OCT10 operates Day x136 instead of Day x367 (Abuja departs following day)
Cairo – London Heathrow MS777/778 continues to operate with NEW Airbus A330-300, which begins from 01SEP10
Cairo – New York JFK Boeing 777-300ER replace -200ER from 01JAN11
Cairo – Tokyo Narita Increase from 6 weekly to Daily from 01MAR11, 777-300ER operating

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