Twenty top travel writers, experts, businessmen and operators take part in SKY HIGH's first questionnaire on world air travel and aviation business Our list of participants included travel and aviation writers, activists and public figures with long involvement in the travel business. The mission was to find out their personal and professional views based on their long experience in the field. Travel operators were also invited to assure that the questionnaire would benefit from the opinions and experiences of business professionals. For objectivity and neutrality we deliberately avoided the Aviation Ministry's affiliated bodies, excluding officials at the main Egyptian airports of Sharm, Hurghada, Luxor and Aswan as well as Cairo International airport. The national carrier EgyptAir and the more than 40 Egyptian and foreign airlines operating in Egypt were not invited either for the same reason, though all those airports and airlines competed with their regional and world counterparts in the survey. The participants were informed that any comments and explanations to justify or clarify their views while answering any of the 10 questions were absolutely welcomed. Indeed, those comments were most helpful in illustrating a clear vision by Egyptian travel experts not only for the Egyptian market but also the Middle East market. Voters were asked to suggest one or two choices for each category, ranked in order for best destinations, important events and worst crises. SKYHIGH did not try to influence their choices. When calculating the votes, we included first and second choices of the voter. Here are the results of our first questionnaire: 1- Best and fastest developing ME airline -- Emirates Airlines Three Arab airlines competed to seize the crown, including Emirates Airlines, EgyptAir and Qatari Airways. "Emirates succeeded over the past 10 years to capture several international awards. It continues launching new routes, long destinations in particular, which makes it difficult to achieve a high load factor, so it is brave to operate them," explained Amr Sidqi, ex-member of the Chamber of Egyptian Tourism. 17 votes went to Emirates while EgyptAir came second with 13 votes. "The national carrier has succeeded lately to upgrade its fleet and keep modernising. It has developed new marketing strategies, an IT system and applied more dynamic strategies to achieve its policies. I can say the airline has managed to raise its service from an ordinary level to one high in the sky," commented Amr El-Ezabi, chairman of the Egyptian Tourism Authority. 2- Best international airlines operating in the ME with respect to quality of service -- Lufthansa The German carrier Lufthansa appeared to attract the attention of voters who did not feel a need to justify their choice. "It is just Lufthansa. Should I say why and how? Biggest fleet, biggest network and highest satisfaction of customers," replied Ali Shalabi, editor-in-chief of the monthly magazine Aviation World. 18 voters shared Shalabi's view and voted for the German airline. 10 votes went to Singapore Airlines. A few votes went to KLM and Emirates. "The carrier is distinguished by its luxury fleet and service on board. Certainly the magnificent airport in Singapore was a factor," said Mohamed Hassanein, chairman and CEO of Galaxia Tours. 3- Best ME airport with respect to improvements and growth -- Dubai International Votes were divided among two airports, Dubai International and Cairo International. To catch 16 votes is not a surprising choice for Dubai airport which is used to winning awards. "It is such an amazing gigantic airport. It needs more than words to describe it. The size of traffic exceeds 30 million passengers per annum, and the number of flights taking off and landing each day is amazing," commented Kawthar Muqbel, vice-president of the Aviation Department of Creative Travel Company. Cairo International made a strong showing, taking 13 votes. "Even though the new terminal TB3 is not yet operating, the airport succeeded to handle more traffic raising capacity from 9 million passengers per annum for the two old terminals in 2006 to 12 million in 2007 and 15 million passengers in 2008. This is a huge increase given the current limited capacity. When TB3 operates, adding 11 million to the capacity, I believe the airport's traffic will jump within two years to be the leader in the region," explained Khalid Salah Eddin, Aviation and Travel Editor of Al-Gamhouria. 4- Best world airport with respect to quality and variety of services -- Frankfurt Airport The fact that there are many airports act as hubs and central airports in distributing traffic around the world made it more difficult for the voters and for us to calculate the votes. Frankfurt, Singapore, Dubai, Hong Kong and Munich airports divided the votes. "What is important about airports is how easy passengers can move through and get access to services and luggage," explained Maged Shinouda, executive vice- president of Emeco Travel. Frankfurt made it to the first position with 16 votes and Singapore airport followed with 13 votes. "Far East airports have grown into gigantic airports and hubs that can stand head-to-head with the biggest European and US airports," commented Mohei Essemari, travel editor of Al-Messa Evening News. 5- Best business class service Lufthansa Second choice went to British Airways. Qatari Airways came third. "The German carrier brings on board the most modernised and high tech services to satisfy its customers. Whenever there is a new facility it is there on Lufthansa," explained Osamah Shalash, editor in chief of Travel and Aviation magazine. The German carrier collected 15 votes against 13 to BA. Personal experiences gave single votes to Cathay Pacific, KLM and SwissAir. "With its long deeply rooted service in the Middle East, BA provides the best business class service. For decades the carrier has provided the same high quality service as it provides European and US destinations," commented Mohamed Shafiq, head of Misr Travel Company. 6- Best economy class service -- EgyptAir "All airlines are similar in this service. Yet, I'd tend to vote for the national carrier for many reasons," replied Hamdi Hamada Aviation and Travel editor at Sawt Al-Ummah. A majority of the voters who made it EgyptAir adopted a similar stand. "I'd say it is more than acceptable. The prices, the quality of service, meals served. Most important is the human factor, dealing with economy customers who expect more for their payment," commented Mustafa El-Naggar, travel editor and deputy editor-in-chief of Al-Ahram. Sixteen votes went to EgyptAir's economy service while Singapore economy class came second with ten votes. JAL Airways and Qatari Airways' economy service also got some votes. "Singapore economy class is distinguished for its comfortable seats, an important criterion to judge the service," explained Khaled El-Manawi, head of the Egyptian Tourism and Travel Agents Association. 7- Best ME travel destination -- Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt The bulk of votes went to Egypt's Sharm El-Sheikh and Luxor. "Over the past two years, figures showed continuous growth in tourism, particularly leisure tourism, to the Red Sea resorts of Sharm El-Shiekh and Hurghada. More than 75 per cent of Egypt's total hotel capacity is in these two cities," explained Fathi Nour, chairman of Egyptian Hotels Company. Another voter with another justification: "Egypt receives nine million tourists from Europe. This is a considerable figure with special significance for Egypt when we keep in mind that European tourists account 60 per cent of tourism traffic all over the world," explained Salah Attia, deputy chairman of the World Travel Writers Union. Egypt collected 27 votes while Turkey collected 9 votes. Dubai was favoured as a shopping destination. "It is about 'value for money', which guides tourists' choices. I believe tourism in Turkey has succeeded to bring together these two elements; tourists get leisure services equal to what they pay," explained Elhami Ezzayat, the ex-chairman of the Egyptian Travel Chambers Federation and a prominent travel businessman. "Dubai with no natural tourism components is only an artificial destination that cannot compete with natural tourism countries like Turkey and Egypt," he added. 8- Best world travel destinations -- the Far East The votes were divided among three destinations; the Far East (China, Malaysia and Thailand), France and Spain. "It's very difficult to book a seat on flights heading to China or Bangkok, not only from Egypt, but also from neighbouring countries. This is the case with seven regional airlines operating to China. It's a growing tourist destination," explained Abdel Hameed Rady, director general of St Giovanni Travel. El-Manawi gave a remarkable justification: "Far East staff are especially service oriented. They are hard workers and the best in bringing comfort to customers. It is a culture of the people." Sixteen voters made the Far East their choice, while 13 voted for France and 11 made it Spain. "France tops European destinations not only from the Middle East but from the Far East, the US and European countries as well. It attracts more than 80 million tourists every year," commented El-Naggar. 9- Most important regional/ world air travel event -- EgyptAir joining Star Alliance Two Egyptian events attracted the full attention of our voters; the national carrier joining the Star Alliance, and the opening of Cairo International's new terminal TB3. "The new terminal is a great step that takes the national carrier miles higher and has opened new horizons for a better future. It increased its operational capacity from its 50 aircraft fleet to thousands of airplanes of Alliance members. All other alliance facilities are now accessible by EgyptAir," commented Mohamed El-Ezabi, senior travel writer of Al-Gamhouria. "The move is an excellent step for the national carrier to determine its future policies. I believe EgyptAir should keep its ambitions within a regional framework to ensure success. It should avoid splitting its efforts to compete with giant carriers. The alliance will help it maintain a competitive regional position," commented Ezzayat. Seventeen votes went to EgyptAir joining the Star Alliance while 14 chose the new Cairo International TB3. "The new terminal is certainly a considerable addition to air travel business in the Middle East and the world. It reflects the upgrading of the Egyptian aviation sector, puts Egypt back on the world air travel map and brings our airport a few steps closer to retaining its normal position as a leading facility in the business," explained Galal Dowidar, head of the Egyptian Travel Writers Association. Travel operators look out for the benefits of the new terminal. "We expect Cairo International with the continued developing process and with the state of art terminal to attract transit tourism, like the flourishing business at Dubai Airport. Egypt is qualified by nature to act as a hub for tourism movement to and from Europe. Expanding the country's main gateway helps it in that respect," explained Mohamed Ramadan, tourism manager at Aton Travel. 10- Worst regional/ world air travel crisis -- Heathrow's TB5 catastrophic opening The voters distinguished two types of air travel crises: the first due to the aviation industry or activities related to it and the other due to other factors. "The catastrophic opening of BA's new terminal TB5 at Heathrow Airport is the worst crisis to passengers and airlines. Thousands of passengers slept for days in March at Heathrow as dozens of flights had to be cancelled. Passengers had to leave the airport without their luggage and waited for days to get it but to no avail," commented Shafiq. "It is a scandal. What else can I call it? The biggest airport in Europe and one of the oldest and biggest all over the world failed to operate a new terminal for several days after it was scheduled. It was a scandalous opening," commented El-Menawi. On the other hand, the world credit crunch was voted as the worst non air travel crisis that seriously affected the business. "The tragic massacres in Gaza also did serious damage to the travel business to the Middle East. Yet as the world seems to have gotten used to seeing Palestinians being killed and slaughtered, I would say that the credit crisis has done more harm to business," commented Amr El-Ezabi.
