Within one month, three international carriers launched scheduled services to Alexandria. Amirah Ibrahim reports In an attempt to expand their existing operations in Egypt, three airlines recently launched new services to Egypt's second largest city, Alexandria. Egypt applies open skies to all its airports except for the Cairo International Airport where operation is restricted to bilateral agreements with EgyptAir, the national carrier. But with the growing demand by passengers, many carriers have turned to operating at terminals in nearby cities that have strong transport links with Cairo. The leading carrier, Emirates, doubled its operations to Egypt from seven weekly flights to 14 by launching a daily scheduled service to Alexandria in mid-May. The carrier's chairman, Sheikh Ahmed Bin Said Al-Maktoum, explained that the company has been examining the possibility of a new route to increase its offered seats to Egypt for a while. "Alexandria has been on our route radar for some time now and I am delighted to announce the launch of our services to the city. It is an ideal partnership between two cities that have enjoyed traditional trade ties since ancient times," stated Sheikh Al-Maktoum. Emirates' manager in Egypt, Mohamed Khalid Asad sees Alexandria as "a second point of sale in Egypt which will serve the need of many of our customers who are based there and in nearby towns. This is an excellent tourist and industrial destination which will serve both business and leisure customers." Emirates flies daily to Alexandria's Borg Al-Arab Airport, 40km west of the city. "The Egyptian gateways of Cairo, Luxor and Sharm El-Sheikh are extremely popular tourist haunts among those featured in Emirates Holidays' world of Choice brochures," explained Asad. Austrian Airlines followed Emirates and launched a new scheduled service on 6 June from Alexandria to Vienna in cooperation with the national carrier EgyptAir. The flights are operated four times a week. Both carriers are involved in a code share agreement through which EgyptAir passengers can book flights on Austrian Airlines. "Our cooperation with EgyptAir also comprises code share flights beyond Vienna to Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Oslo as well as more points to be added," commented Austrian Airline Manager- Egypt, Magid Shenouda. He added that the "the ground handling services for our flights at all Egyptian airports are carried by EgyptAir as well as simulator training for our pilots in Boeing 777s in Egypt." Shenouda indicated that the new service not only provides non-stop flights between Austria and Egypt, but also provides numerous connections to both Cairo and Alexandria airports via Vienna to the rest of Europe. "By cooperating with our route partner, EgyptAir, we offer 16 weekly flights to our passengers." Shenouda stated. In addition to the scheduled traffic, Austrian Airlines Group offers charter flights from five Austrian airports to well-known Egyptian holiday resorts like Sharm El-Sheikh, Hurghada and Luxor. "For 2005 we expect to carry 100,000 passengers on our scheduled services between Egypt and Austria, an all time high," Shenouda said. Mohamed Mounir, vice-president of Commercial EgyptAir Holding Company, explained that the cooperation between EgyptAir and the Austrian Airlines Group has added to the traffic between Cairo and Vienna. "Five thousand passengers were transported on the code share flights during summer 2004. We expect that this service will deepen the cooperation between Alexandria and Vienna as well as add 15 per cent to the revenue of the Egypt/ Austria scheduled operations," said Mounir. EgyptAir will be allowed to book a number of seats on Austrian Airlines flights going to Vienna from Alexandria, and if needed, this number can be increased through negotiations. "We now have 14 code share agreements with leading carriers. We are willing to expand such agreements even further which will in fact enhance our potential to take passengers to new points in Europe much farther away than those to which our fleet already operates" said Mounir. EgyptAir's route to Vienna was shut down two years ago among 13 other international routes closed due to massive loses. Qatar Airways became the most recent carrier to launch its services to the port city of Alexandria on 9 June, thus adding a third destination to Egypt from Doha which previously only included flights to Cairo and Luxor. Alexandria now receives three non-stop flights a week from Doha Airport. The airline is also offering a complimentary coach transfer service for passengers between Alexandria and Cairo. Despite the fact that Alexandria is the only Egyptian city that has two main international airports, a number of problems continue to hold back its potential as a major international hub for air travel. The old Al-Nozha Airport suffers a shortage of radar screening equipment and computerised passport checking equipment. At Borg Al-Arab Airport, security checks for arriving passengers are carried out manually. Also, the distance of the Borg Al-Arab Airport from both Alexandria and Cairo creates a problem for passengers who must wait in buses operated by airlines to be transported to either city. Moreover, there are no other means of transportation such as private taxis available for passengers seeking to go to other nearby Delta cities.
