In the face of an organised campaign reportedly targeting the national carrier's image, EgyptAir's new management has denied accusations of poor performance, Amirah Ibrahim reports The national carrier has come under fire over the past three weeks from what media reports suggest are brewing problems among the carrier's staff and crew members. On Tuesday, the airline countered by inviting the media to meet the new management which took over six months ago. "The new management has successfully achieved the first three tasks it had as objectives," Tawfik Assi, EgyptAir chairman and CEO, said at a press conference. "The first task was to complete procedures to join the world's biggest airline partnership, Star Alliance. The second was to acquire international seats occupied by the airline in the world's leading aviation bodies. The third was to separate affiliated companies from the mother company. The missions have all been achieved." Assi said Star Alliance was so happy with EgyptAir's guidelines for membership procedures that it decided to adopt them for new member airlines to follow. He said that being elected an IATA board member only a month after taking his post represented success in the goal to get hold of additional international seats. "Although our affiliated companies are very much tied to each other, sharing the same field of activity, we finally separated from each other in all aspects," Assi added. Established in 1932, EgyptAir was the first airline in the Middle East and the seventh oldest in the world. The carrier was converted into a holding company in 2002, with nine affiliates: airline, maintenance, ground services, in-flight services, cargo, tourism and duty free shops, medical services, supplementary industry and domestic airline express. Although the carrier is a state-owned company, the management is private. It receives no government financing. Assi said that the company had just received a two-year renewal of the IATA certificate IOSA which highlights the outstanding performance of airlines. "We first obtained the IOSA in 2004, and renewed it in 2006 and this is the third. The auditing team expressed admiration that an airline had succeeded in getting a third renewal of the certificate without a single remark." Asked if the new management was responsible for the mass departure of many crew members and technicians who complained about low salaries and preferred to join other airlines, Assi said: "We have about 1,200 engineers working at our technical and maintenance complex. EgyptAir's fleet is operated at present by 700 well- trained pilots. To be realistic, we cannot blame anyone who seeks better pay for his family. But between June and August only five engineers and four pilots left their jobs to join Gulf companies." Assi says a new payment bill is being prepared to meet the needs of pilots. "I spent my entire career as a pilot in the company. I can understand the fears and desires of my colleagues. Pilots do not take their annual vacations because their payment is usually affected by flying hours. The management is about to announce a new bill in which pilots will be paid for their vacation through an annual average." The attack on EgyptAir reached its peak two weeks ago after an EgyptAir flight from Cairo to Doha with 145 passengers was forced to abort departure after a mouse was spotted inside the airplane, causing chaos among the passengers. Passengers returned to the terminal and another aircraft finally took off after a seven-hour delay. The original aircraft could not be flown until the mouse was caught. Mice can nibble cables, pipes and other critical parts of an airplane. "Do you meet a mouse every day on our flights?" Assi joked. "The media kept highlighting the incident every day so much that one would think it happens time and again. "There is no direct link to determine who is to blame," Assi said as to whether the in- flight services or the ground service companies should take responsibility. "Concerning EgyptAir ground services, the company has just passed the first phase of the IATA audit on the way to the ISAGO certificate. The organisation intends to carry out the second phase within two weeks when an IATA team will inspect our facilities and procedures at our base in Cairo International Airport. Had there been any shortcomings, the IATA report would certainly have revealed them." However, Assi admitted that developing an in-flight service branch is problematic. "For two years, the previous management had been involved in negotiations with two partners to create a new catering company with EgyptAir. The aim was to improve our catering services on board flights. Unfortunately, negotiations returned to square one, and the new management had to start negotiating from scratch. We believe we can reach a final agreement with LSG and EAS to establish a new company which will have a separate management and operate from a new hi-equipped building near TB3." According to Assi, the new contract will be signed within two weeks while actual operations will begin in early December. Assi expressed optimism about the foreseeable future when Cairo International Airport (CIA), the primary hub of EgyptAir, turns into a regional hub. "EgyptAir, together with Star Alliance members, will move to the new terminal. This will provide passengers and airlines with state-of-the art services and facilities." TB3 is due to be fully operational in the first quarter of 2009.
