As the national carrier was taking delivery of its new Boeing fleet, Amirah Ibrahim joined a 15-hour delivery flight across the Atlantic Ocean to Cairo and toured the American manufacturer's field in Seattle First time to the States, it has been such an exciting trip during which I flew on three flights with two airlines. Each tasted different. I crossed the Atlantic Ocean twice, onboard two different types of Boeing aircraft operated by EgyptAir, which took delivery of its new B737- 800 from the Boeing plant in Seattle. In between, I got a golden opportunity to experience flying with an American airline for a domestic flight which I think for long to come will not be easy to forget. ONE: Cairo-New York -- a comforting and satisfying flight, from the very beginning of the trip at Cairo International Airport's TB3; allocated for the national carrier and Star alliance member airlines. The usual tough and exaggerated security procedures did not disturb me as they used to before. I only took off my shoes and coat, and exposed my personal computer to be scanned. It was the first time to experience one of the six new B777-300 aircraft which EgyptAir ordered in the second quarter of this year. The airline is operating the B777 on the long distance routes only such as New York and London, in the face of strong competition. The plane was configured in three classes, first, business and economy, and I enjoyed a business seat, a semi flat-bed seat, with audio and video entertainment facilities which offered too little on the menu. My trip was scheduled to begin one day before the Bairam feast, Al-Adha Eid, thus I enjoyed extreme privacy as the business class was almost empty. A case with personal comfort kit was distributed to passengers for the long haul. Two meals were served during the 12 hour flight; a breakfast and lunch. I fell asleep after having breakfast. When I woke up, lunch was already served, thus I was offered a lunch menu with two options only, missing my favourite chicken dish. I took the beef only because it smelled so good. The flight took off at 10:00am and reached New York at 3pm. I was surprised as no EgyptAir agents were waiting to assist us. "I have no idea about media arrangements to cover the delivery of the fleet," commented the airline station manager at JFK airport. That was a discouraging start. TWO: After two nights in New York, I continued to Seattle, crossing the States from East to West. We took the Delta airlines flight from TB4. "Finally, I will experience American airlines," I told myself. The flight took off at 5:50pm, 20 minutes late. When I saw that the aircraft was a B737, I was not optimistic. Most airlines use both B737 and A320 as sardine boxes; seating passengers with the least space. The B737 is a one aisle medium body aircraft. My economy seat was set in the middle of three. For a six and half hour flight, locked in a tight space between two passengers, I knew it was not my lucky day. When I tried to ease the seat back, I failed. Nor could my window neighbour; the seats were not working in a proper way. As it was getting cold, we tried to turn off the AC fan, but it was not working. When I asked for a blanket, the stewardess laughed. "No blankets offered onboard any American airlines," stated my neighbour who was working for an IT provider on Lufthansa airline. "They took out all the items passengers used to enjoy in the past for free in claim to reduce extra weight," she added. I noted that no newspaper had been offered, as we are used to on Egyptian airlines. After two hours, the flight attendant served soft or hot drinks. I asked for a black tea, attempting to ease my tension due to the continued struggle with the neighbour who had taken the aisle seat, each of us was trying to find a space to extend our legs. He seemingly had not enough space in front of his seat so he decided to occupy mine. Unfortunately, the tea was cold and tasted more like coffee, which I do not like. Meals are served for payment. No free lunch. You can buy a snack or a light dish of fruit, but only with a credit card. They do not accept cash. Since I was not able to convince the attendant to take cash, I continued the flight with nothing to eat or drink. Three hours later, another soft drink was served. I asked for a juice, but the flight attendant did not bother asking which kind I preferred. He just poured the grapefruit juice which I did not want on an empty stomach. I would not dare to ask to change it, not with the aggressive look in his eyes. Entertainment? Well, one movie was displayed, but I did not follow it as it looked too depressing. The best thing to say about Delta was the instructional film displayed before takeoff, which was prepared with techniques similar to those used in a real movie. I was so happy that the dreadful flight was over; even when it landed 30 minutes late. Next day, as I met with Boeing officials, I took the chance to ask whether they advise American airlines over how to make the best use of the aircraft and keep passengers satisfied as well. "The American market is a price market, where customers chase bargains. They pay less and expect less," explained Kevin Roundhill, regional director product marketing, Boeing commercial airplanes. "As long as the flight takes off on time, lands on time and luggage is not lost, passengers are satisfied," he added. Well, since my flight took off late and landed late, I should not be satisfied. THREE: The Egyptian delegation, accompanied by media, reached Boeing's Seattle airfield at 11:30am, an hour before the set time for the delivery flight to take off. Officials from Boeing, EgyptAir, the Civil Aviation authority and technical support company signed the final delivery papers. While the pilots joined a final briefing by Boeing dispatchers over the flight route, technical support engineers moved airside for a final technical inspection. The airline dispatched a crew of five pilots -- three captains and two co-pilots. "We have received a detailed briefing over the route, weather conditions over north Europe and substitute airports in case of emergency," explained Hisham El-Ghazouli, co-pilot of the delivery flight. The B737 is a medium range aircraft that cannot cross the Atlantic Ocean at one shot. Thus, the flight headed to Iceland's Keflavik airport for fueling and then to Cairo. This made our flight lasts 15 hours. El-Ghazouli, 30, has been working with the airline for two years, flying the same class of B737, yet it was his first time to fly a delivery flight. "It is different in many ways. We have no passengers nor security agents onboard, and definitely less belly load." The cabin crew was allowed a tour of the Boeing 737 assembly line in Renton a day before the delivery. "Getting that close to the aircraft while it is being assembled is a joy. The scene from inside the cabin; the location for my work, is different from what I have seen. It is such a complicated process that it made me understand aircraft in a better way," explained Magi Atef, a flight attendant with five years experience with the airline. The delivery flight was supplied with meals from Boeing's catering facility. According to Saher Nashed, chief cabin crew, modernising the fleet facilitates hosting duties onboard. "The new aircraft is equipped with an electronic inspection system to detect any error on the facilities onboard and even allow us to fix problems such as malfunctioning of the emergency doors system and securing passengers through discovering about any emergency before it happens such as excess pressure." The flight to Keflavik took six hours during which I missed the flat bed seat of the B777; the business seat of the B737 is not suitable for sleeping during such a long haul flight. The temperature in Keflavik was 4 Celsius. But no matter; the Egyptian engineers put on their phosphoric vests and went down to supervise fuel and oil supplies. The technical group consisted of five engineers whose mission at Boeing facilities began five days before the delivery date. "We have conducted two main standard tests: a flying test on the first day and a customer walk test on the second day," explained engineer Waleed El-Khafif, head of the Technical Support delegation. "On the first day, Boeing pilots accompanied by EgyptAir pilots and the technical group flew the aircraft for two hours over Boeing's airfield. During this test, the plane is usually set to face a number of abnormal and unusual circumstances such as problems of cabin pressure, shutting down of the engines and suspension of autopilot to see how the aircraft responds to emergency procedures," El-Khafif explained. On the second day, the technical group splits in two; one group to inspect the aircraft interiors and detect defects and review engines reports. "In case of defects that need more time to be fixed but are not fatal that threaten the safety of the flight, the manufacturers Boeing and EgyptAir would sign a commitment letter under which Boeing would be committed to fix the defect as its responsibility," added El-Khafif. The delivery process however is supervised directly by the Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority, which was represented in the official delegation. The civil aviation authority is the body authorised to issue flight certificates and licenses to pilots and engineers. "To operate an aircraft with an airline, it requires three kinds of certificates in order to get the licence to operate in Egyptian airports," explained Magdi Adeeb, head of the civil aviation authority delegation. "A pilot validity licence, registration certificate and operation permission are issued only after reviewing all procedures," Adeeb added. "In particular, manufacturing criteria which should be in accord with the general requirements set by the Egyptian authorities, guided by instructions of the FAA," he explained.
