CAIRO: European low-cost airline carrier has been denied access to Cairo International Airport, sources told the Wall Street Journal. The report said that Egyptian officials have demanded that the budget airline offer increased services on board in order to gain access to its runways. “Technically, we can fly” to Cairo, EasyJet Chief Executive Carolyn McCall said in comments published by the newspaper. However, she added the airline has not been given clearance by Egypt's aviation authorities. “We're still talking to authorities on how that will work,” McCall said. Last year, the UK Civil Aviation Authority gave EasyJet three weekly landing slots starting Oct. 31, 2010. The agreement between the two countries raised the number of weekly slots on the London to Cairo or Alexandria routes to 14 slots from 11, but also capped seating at 4,500 per week in each direction. EasyJet originally had hoped to start flights to Cairo in November but its application for certain time slots was rejected because of its low-cost services, which keep flights cheaper. Travelers and visitors have said the Egyptian government should change its policies over the carrier. Susan Tomlinson, an American living in England, told Bikya Masr that if the government allowed these flights, it would increase the number of British passengers annually. “There is no doubt in my mind that people in the UK would love to come to Egypt, but with flights so expensive, it is hard. This would make it possible and it would bring in money to the tourism industry,” she said, adding that it “is a no-brainer.” But the Egyptian government receives taxes on each flight that comes into the country and the budget airline would likely not bring in a substantial amount as compared to British Airlines, which is what is keeping the deal stalled. A spokesman for the UK Department for Transport said discussions were still open but those talks had “hit a hiatus” when civil unrest erupted at the start of the year. He said “talks will resume shortly,” adding that the current situation hasn't meant EgyptAir has been prevented from using its full allocation of slots in the UK. “Whether they are using them all would be an operational matter for the airline, but they are certainly within their rights to do so,” the DfT spokesman added. BM
