Egypt's main gateway may soon become a major world air hub, Amirah Ibrahim reports Cairo International Airport (CIA) has a new plan to compete with other regional airports as an "airport city" intended to attract Middle Eastern and Mediterranean communities for both business and leisure. "Airports are more than just points where passengers meet, since they combine several means of transport -- air, rail, road, and public," explained Major General Abdel-Fattah Badran, vice-president of the CIA. "Millions of people pass through the airport as transit passengers, attend conferences there, or negotiate business deals. So airports have increasingly offered hotels nearby and even inside them. Businessmen like the idea of coming in the morning, having a conference at the airport, avoiding traffic jams, and leaving in the evening." This has been the vision since 1990, but starting in 2000 and as planned up to 2010, the goal has been to widen the spectrum of services of airports and offer entertainment and leisure. "This means not only good food services and shopping centres, but ponds, zoos, and amusement parks, so that the CIA is not only a travel terminal but a place to spend holiday time in," Badran said enthusiastically. The CIA is actually managed by a German company called Fraport, which also manages Frankfurt airport, and was hired two years ago under a seven-year contract. Two weeks ago, Badran headed a joint team of CIA and Fraport management to attend the International Airport City Conference in Frankfurt. The management is currently working on a master plan to transform the airport into a regional airport city. "The CIA possesses wide expanses of lands around the airport, estimated at 55 square km, from the Suez Ring Road to Ismailia Road, providing an excellent opportunity to make money by selling, leasing or forming partnerships with investors," Badran explained. Fraport Executive Manager Manfred Baeir explained that the current expansion of the airport helps fulfil the project. "The expansion project covers the prime needs of the airport to establish the necessary facilities. The new terminal TB3 scheduled to open in 2008 can triple in size over the next 30 years. The new runway will expand the current capacity from 100,000 to 600,000 flights per year. This means that making use of unused land for the new master plan will not threaten the expansion needs of the airport," he explained. We will use the strong potential we have because we are near the highest income areas in the city and even in the country. This is very promising for commercial activities and will be profitable." The CIA master plan includes establishing entertainment parks near the airport as well as inviting investors to build amusement and social facilities. "Egyptians love to spend their evenings outdoors. They fill the green spaces around the airport," he explained. "The area along Ismailia road will be offered for joint investment to build an entertainment city with cinemas, shops and parks. A cultural centre will be built outside the commercial Air Mall where visitors can enjoy concerts and arts festivals." Baeir also mentioned the fact that Cairo is an important medical centre among Arab countries. "People fly to Cairo for surgeries and special medical treatment. Establishing a world class airport hospital where Egyptian medical teams can treat their foreign patients is another project. We may even invite international medical teams for operations." A survey conducted by CIA management showed that there are 35,000 employees working in 128 different companies in the airport area, not including police whose numbers are confidential for security reasons, or taxi drivers who operate their own vehicles. "They all need commercial services during their stay at the airport and possibly even a place to bring their families for a day out," said Baeir. Yet, still there are a number of requirements before the project can be put into effect. "To transform the area into an airport city you need good accessibility by road. The CIA has good accessibility, with five main roads -- the Ring Road, Al-Oruba road, the Autostrad, Ismailia road and Suez road. What we need, however, is better traffic management. We also need a metro station -- a quick, easy and cheap means of transport to bring customers and visitors from faraway towns. Fortunately, a metro extension to the CIA is underway."
