CAIRO: A delegation of Egyptian civil aviation employees met Prime Minister Essam Sharaf on Tuesday. They asked for newly appointed Civil Aviation Minister Ibrahim Manaa to resign. Manaa was appointed as part of a new cabinet headed by Sharaf, whose was suggested to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) by a coalition of youth. The SCAF has been in charge of the country's administration since former president Hosni Mubarak was ousted on 11 February. The cabinet, sworn in by Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi on Monday, is expected to lead the country until presidential elections are held. “Manaa was one of Mubarak's men, he'll help those who stole the country's wealth to flee with their booty,” Magdy Abdel Hady, head of air traffic control, told Al Masry Al Youm. The delegation threatened to block air traffic for all flights on Sunday onwards if Manaa does not resign. This measure could seriously affect the country's economy, already damaged by almost seven weeks of stagnation due to popular unrest and political uncertainty. Touristic travel to Egypt is expected to resume in the following weeks, after Italian Ambassador in Egypt Claudio Pacifico lifted a travel ban to Egypt on Saturday 5 March. Egyptians sent conciliatory messages to foreign tourists, showing banners such as “tourists please come back to Egypt” during several demonstrations. Tourism industry employs around 12 percent of the population in Egypt and provided revenues around U.S. $11 billion in 2008. BM
