Africa's second biggest airport will soon be one of the best in the world, thanks to the new state-of-the-art terminal, which doubles its capacity, Amirah Ibrahim boasts By the end of this year, travellers through Egypt's main gateway, Cairo International Airport (CAI), will pass through an amazing facility at Terminal 3, though only if they are travelling on the national carrier or any of its Star Alliance sisters. Aviation authorities invited local and international media 18 February to get a close look at the nearly completed buildings of the new terminal. Aviation Minister Ahmed Shafiq briefed the media on project details. "The new terminal does not only represent a necessary expansion to keep the airport competitive in the region," stated Shafiq. "It is a mark of trust by the World Bank which agreed to fund the project even though it had officially stopped funding airport projects 12 years before." The new terminal's overall cost exceeds $350 million, of which $280 million have been provided by the World Bank and $70 million by the Egyptian government. Shafiq added that international institutions have offered to fund other airport projects in Egypt. "The Japanese Bank offered a $50 million loan to develop Alexandria's new gateway, Borg Al-Arab Airport, while the Arab Developing Bank offered to finance the new Hurghada airport terminal." Shafiq explained that the development plan could not cover all 22 airports, some of which were not profitable. "We study possible alternatives which include making them profitable, privatising them, or operating them as joint venture partnerships," Shafiq indicated. The new terminal is designed to handle 11 million international and domestic passengers per annum and comprises 164,000 squared metres of built-up area, including a central terminal of three main levels, two extendible capacity aircraft piers, gate facilities with 15 stands, and a concourse connecting the two piers with the main terminal. Provision is being made to accommodate the latest A- 380 superjumbo aircraft. According to Fathi Fathallah, Cairo Airport Company chairman, the expansion project covers the prime needs of the airport. The new runway under construction at present will expand the current capacity from 100,000 to 600,000 per year. Associated airside works include taxiing facilities, aprons, roads, drainage, flood lighting, a visual docking guidance system, passenger loading bridges, and full aircraft support services. Landside works include bridges and flyovers serving the traffic to and from the terminal building. The airport came under a three-phase development scheme, Fathallah noted. The first included immediately replacing the old infrastructure with the new one. The second phase included upgrading the existed facilities at terminals 1 and 2, adding more vertical expansion. The third phase aimed to expand the capacity of the airport from 8.5 million passengers per annum to 20 million. Fathallah, however, indicated that the airport has just celebrated reaching 12 million passengers two weeks ago. "A study by the World Bank, conducted six years ago, showed that CAI was growing at a rate of 3.5 per cent; thus the airport would reach its maximum capacity by 2021. However, this year CAI's growth rate exceeded 16 per cent, with predictions to exceed the planned capacity by 2016. Thus we moved to study expansion alternatives either within the new Terminal 3 or other airports," Fathallah indicated. The new Terminal 3 scheduled to open in 2008 has the ability to expand three times within the next 30 years. As the countdown continues to open the new terminal, the national carrier is busy getting ready to move all its business from Terminal 3. "The carrier formed a higher committee to supervise the transfer process," stated Atef Abdel-Hamid, chairman of EgyptAir Holding Company. "EgyptAir is the main client of Cairo International. Joining the world's biggest airline Star Alliance by the third quarter of this year, the carrier together with its 20 Star sisters will be operating from the new terminal," explained Abdel-Hamid. About 80 per cent of the carrier's activities will move to the new Terminal 3. "The rest will be kept at terminals 1 and 2 as we serve other Arab and European airlines at Cairo International for ground services, technical maintenance and catering," Abdel-Hamid indicated. According to engineer Abdel-Aziz Fadel, chairman of EgyptAir Engineering and Maintenance Company, who also heads the higher committee to supervise the transfer process, all the airline's activities will be transferred before the official inauguration of Terminal 3 in October. "Some activities which operate in the building such as tourism and duty-free stores will move as soon as the building is equipped with the necessary facilities. Some will move to temporary facilities while permanent facilities are being constructed," Fadel stated. The carrier includes nine affiliated companies covering all activities: international airline, domestic airline express, tourism and duty-free, cargo, plastic industries, medical services, technical maintenance, ground services and in-flight services. "Only the technical maintenance and in-flight services will be operating from temporary facilities because those two services are subject to be ordered on the spot. While the fleet will get the catering from the base at Terminal 1, huge refrigerators will be provided at Terminal 3 ready with additional meals to cover any urgent requests, avoiding any delays of flights," explained Fadel. Temporary hangars are being prepared at present next to Terminal 3 to carry out daily maintenance work. "Periodical maintenance is being carried at the base. On the other hand, construction work for the new permanent hangars at Terminal 3 will be completed within 18 months," Fadel commented.
