It was the first time that I depart from the new airport; the so-called terminal 3 that was opened recently. It was financed by a grant from the World Bank, and built by a Turkish company. The terminal is luxurious and well-equipped. The luggage trolleys are new and do not break down midway. Everything seemed wonderful, except for one thing, namely that your baggage would travel safely or that you would claim it without problems. At the new terminal, you will have to be patient and pray a lot that this happens, for things are never perfect; as the Egyptian saying goes. I had read in a newspaper that the electronic baggage system had some defect, leaving baggage behind or sending it to a different destination. But I did not believe the newspaper. I thought it was exaggerating. And when I asked the Egypt-Air attendant, he told me the problem was only at the start of operation, but is now solved. However, it seems the problem was not solved, as my bag was left behind in Cairo, together with 45 other bags of a non-stop flight from Cairo to London (not to New York or Australia, and not needing an extra plane). So there was some defect with the electronic system. Fine! It can happen at any airport and to any airline. You may have a problem if you have a meeting the next morning, though. Anyway, the bag arrived safely the next day. But it seems the defect was bigger than that. For when I arrived at the same huge and luxurious terminal on my return trip, I had to wait nearly two hours to claim my bag. The strangest thing that I have never seen at any of the airports of the world was that the baggage of two different flights was on one conveyor belt. The terminal gave one belt for the baggage of the Jeddah and the London flights, causing the passengers to crowd in the strangest scene, shouting and screaming at one another. You can see amazement on the faces of the foreigners who were unfortunate enough to arrive at that luxurious, huge and beautiful airport.
What is happening? All Egypt-Air flights were simply transferred to the new airport, whereas they were divided over terminals 1, 2 and 3 before. They are all now stacked in one terminal that only has four or five baggage belts. In other words, it is a huge terminal, yet with a limited baggage service capacity. I do not know whether this was the contracting company's mistake, whether the brief it took was not accurate or whether we have transferred all Egypt-Air flights without studying the capacity of the terminal. With the arrival of many flights at the same time, the airport management is compelled to give one belt for two flights, which is a catastrophe.
And so you arrive with Egypt-Air on time, but you have to wait for your bags for two hours, amid yelling and screaming that makes you forget about the huge, luxurious and beautiful terminal, and rather hate the day you had to arrive at it. As to the tourists, they are already tired and angry before they begin their journey to Egypt. Perhaps we should excuse the airport management, as the early days of operation can have problems. But we need to do something about it quickly before the airport turns into an unbearable nightmare. Airports are not just nicely-decorated walls and beautiful marble floors. They must provide quick and efficient services that facilitate passenger arrivals and departures in the shortest possible time. This is what distinguishes one airport from another. Please do not waste such investment by hasty decisions. If the capacity of the airport is limited, it should be improved or the load should be reduced. It is a simple decision, but it will help the people for whom that airport was built in the first place.
