United strikes code-share deal with Egypt Air United Airlines said Thursday that it reached agreement with EgyptAir on a code-sharing alliance that will go into effect next summer. Code-sharing arrangements allow carriers to sell seats on each others aircraft, and to cooperate on frequent-flier arrangements, in a link that costs little and offers each party access to new customers and markets. Starting next summer, United will place its code on EgyptAir flights to Cairo from New York Kennedy Airport and London s Heathrow Airport. EgyptAir will similarly attach its code to United flights from New York to Los Angeles and San Francisco, and on United flights that link London Heathrow with Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington Dulles. -Chicago Tribune Report praises progress in de-mining North Coast Egypt has come a long way in implementing a strategy to clear its North Coast area from mines planted during World War II, a report by Egypt s International Cooperation Ministry said. The report noted that the ministry prepared, in cooperation with the Economic Development Ministry, a LE 60 billion strategy for the next 20 years to demine the area. The government will contribute 33 percent of the plan, while the private sector will finance 48 percent. The remaining 19 percent will be afforded by direct foreign investments and foreign contributions, the report said. -MENA Dubai s Damac denies stake purchase report Dubai-based Damac Properties on Friday denied a Turkish newspaper report that the emirate s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum has bought a 40 percent stake in the private developer. Turkish daily Vatan earlier on Friday quoted an official at Debba, a subsidiary of Damac Properties in Turkey, as saying Dubai s ruler had bought 40 percent of the group and that Damac Properties plans to invest $6 billion in a Turkish coastal development of hotels, houses, shopping malls and marinas. Damac has not sold any shares to anyone, a Damac spokesman told Reuters in Dubai. Dubai s real estate sector has been hit hard recently as property prices fall, construction projects are scaled back and jobs are cut. In November Damac slashed 200 jobs and said it would not be expanding into new markets due to the global financial crisis. The developer also said it was looking to reschedule the construction of select projects. -Reuters Alo, silatech sign cooperation deal The Arab Labor Organization (ALO) signed on Thursday a cooperation agreement with the Qatari foundation Silatech on regulating the exchange of information and documents. This came during a meeting between Ahmed Loqman, director general of the Cairo-based ALO, and a delegation representing the Qatari foundation. In statements following the meeting, Loqman was upbeat about the outcome of the talks between the two sides which dwelt on horizons of joint cooperation. Egypt and Qatar agreed on preparing studies about employment in Arab countries, he said. The Qatari foundation is a non-profit organization, founded in 1995 according to a personal initiative by the Qatari emir. -MENA WFP may establish center for climate research in Egypt Minister of State for Environmental Affairs Maged George held a session of talks on Thursday with John M. Powell, deputy executive director of the World Food Program (WFP), where Powell offered to establish a center for climate research in Egypt to study the impact of climate change on cultivation in the African continent. The minister s meeting with Powell came on the sidelines of the fourth UN Climate Change Conference currently in session in the Polish city of Poznan. George welcomed the idea especially in light of his ministry s cooperation with the Egyptian Agricultural Research Center to produce new and good quality crops. The minister also met with French Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Environment Jean-Louis Borloo. Talks dealt with efforts to protect the Mediterranean from pollution within the framework of the Union for the Mediterranean project. Representatives from 192 countries as well as environmental groups, aid agencies and industry groups have gathered in Poznan for the conference and for talks on cutting carbon emissions. -MENA Egypt among busiest airports in Africa Among the top 20 busiest airports in Africa, Cairo International Airport came in second with 12,577,524 passengers, reported AllAfrica.com. Two South African Airports - the OR Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg with 19,457,498 passengers and the Cape Town International Airport with 8,426,618 - came first and third, respectively. Sharm El-Sheik International Airport came in fourth with 6,424,851 passengers; followed by Hurghada International Airport with 5,947,616; and Mohammed V International Airport in Casablanca, Morocco. According to the Airport International Council (ACI) report for 2007, Luxor International Airprot gets 1.9 million passengers.
