The B737-800 appears to be one of the favoured classes to the national carriers. Boeing and EgyptAir officials explain why "The 737 is the perfect family for the 100-200 seat segment; as it has demonstrated success in multiple market segments, with its high reliability and utilisation as well as the lowest operating costs," stated Kevin Roundhill, regional director, Product Marketing, Boeing commercial. "With multiple sizes, it meets the demands of passengers and airlines for more nonstops and frequencies which have been growing over the past 30 years to meet the continued air travel growth," added Roundhill. This week, the national carrier took delivery of a new B737-800 to mark the 15th aircraft of the class operating among the carrier's fleet. Still there are more five B737-800 that the carrier is scheduled to take delivery of by the second quarter of 2011. "We have been expanding our fleet in light of a wide scale study of our regional international network," explained Captain Alaa Ashour, EgyptAir airline chairman. "This aircraft serves our plans to expand in Africa and the Middle East. It also performs well on European destinations, as it has a range capability from Cairo that extends to cover all Europe, the Middle East and most of the African continent," Ashour added. In 2010, EgyptAir added five new routes, four of them in Africa. More two new destinations will be added next year. The carrier is applying a serious plan to upgrade and expand the fleet so as to meet increasing demand for air travel. It has been scheduled to take delivery of two new aircraft; the B737-800 and B777-300. Figures from the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) show that world air travel has grown 5.2 per cent since 1978. "EgyptAir has hit high growth rates in its key markets," commented Michael Warner, Boeing market analyst. "The carrier's main markets have witnessed a remarkable increase of growth rates. The Middle East market increased by 10.3 per cent, the Western Europe market by 8.1 per cent, Eastern and Central Europe by 8.2 per cent, Northern Africa by 7.2 per cent, while North America has increased by 9.9 per cent," revealed Warner. "The key countries in which passenger growth rates increased are Kuwait at 12.4 per cent, the UK at 10.9 per cent, the UAE at 10.3 per cent, Saudi Arabia at 9.6 per cent, Italy at 9.4 per cent and Russia at 8 per cent." However, EgyptAir's largest passengers markets are Saudi Arabia, the domestic market, European and Arab Gulf countries. "The Egyptian airline has achieved a five-year growth rate of 14.8 per cent. Such an ambitious carrier deserves to obtain the modernised aircraft we as manufacturers work hard to offer to our customers," Warner indicated. Many improvements to the 737 have mae the aircraft the world's best-selling jet airplane, with 8,670 orders and 279 customers. "Blended winglets, carbon brakes, short field performance along with interior enhancements such as in-seat video and new pivot bins for more carry-on bag space, all have added to the value of the aircraft," explained Roundhill. "The current edition of the aircraft has provided efficiency to save fuel by 6 per cent. Fuel represents 20-25 per cent of operation costs," he added For the next 737 generation improvements, fuel efficiency is targetted to improve by more 2 per cent. "Wing control surfaces, ski-jump wheelwell fairing redesign and anti-collision lights all are designed to reduce drag along with propulsion improvements which lower fuel consumption," he added. Sky interior design has been introduced to bring more satisfaction to passengers, connecting them to their flying experience. "We may think about these new interior improvements in future orders. We are keen to bring our customers all the best we can afford, provided it is profitable as well," Ashour replied to a question about whether the carrier will order the new sky interior design.
