EgyptAir (Arabic: مصر للطيران, Miṣr liṬ-Ṭayārān) is the flag carrier airline of the Arab Republic of Egypt and a member of Star Alliance. The airline is based at Cairo International Airport, its main hub, operating scheduled passenger and freight services to more than 70 destinations in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas. An extensive network of domestic services is focused on Cairo, Egypt's capital.
EgyptAir is Africa's largest airline, and joined the Star Alliance on 11 July 2008. Its has its headquarters in the EgyptAir Administerial Complex in Cairo.[1]
The airline's logo is Horus, the sky deity in ancient Egyptian mythology, usually depicted as a falcon or a man with the head of a falcon. The airline has taken Horus as its logo because of it ancient symbolism as a "winged god of the sun".
[edit] Operations
EgyptAir is a state-owned company with special legislation permitting the management to operate as if the company were privately owned without any interference from the government. The company is self-financing without any financial backing by the Egyptian government.
EgyptAir wholly owns EgyptAir Express and Air Sinai. The airline has stakes in Air Cairo (60%) and Smart Aviation Company (20%). As of June 2007, the EgyptAir Holding Company had 20,734 employees of which 7,600 worked in EgyptAir Airlines (the airline subsidiary of the group).[2]
In 2004, EgyptAir became the first IOSA certified airline in Africa. In 2006, Skytrax, the UK-based airline consultancy service, rated EgyptAir as a "3 Star Quality Certified Airline".
In 2007, EgyptAir's passenger traffic increased by 21% to 7.8 million passengers.[3]
The airline launched a regional subsidiary called EgyptAir Express with a fleet of new Embraer E-170 jets. The carrier links Cairo with Sharm El-Sheikh, Hurghada, Luxor, Aswan, Marsa Alam, Abu Simbel and Alexandria (Egypt) in addition to secondary regional destinations to compliment the parent company's pattern of service. In June 2009 the subsidiary received the last of the 12 Embraer E-170 aircraft on order.
The EgyptAir Holding Company has recorded substantial profits in past years, reaching US$170 million during the 2007/2008 financial year. This is fortified by huge assets of more than US$3.8 billion. The airline's financial year is from July to June. [4] For the fiscal year ending 31 July 2007, EgyptAir achieved a record total revenue of US$1,143 billion. Total group revenue grew by 14%, as compared with the previous year.
In early 2007, the airline partnered with the Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation and 'Egyptian Holding Company for Airports & Air Navigation' to form a new corporate airline, Smart Aviation Company, based at Cairo Airport.
On October 16, 2007 the Chief Executive Board of Star Alliance voted to accept EgyptAir as a future member. The airline had already forged commercial and cooperative agreements with several members of the Star Alliance by then, including Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Thai Airways International, Swiss International Airlines, South African Airways, Turkish Airlines and bmi. Nine months after being invited as a future member (a record time by any airline joining an alliance), EgyptAir became the 21st member of Star Alliance in a ceremony held in Cairo on 11 July 2008.
In 2008, EgyptAir's passenger traffic increased by 6% to 8.2 million passengers.[3]
In 2009, EgyptAir's operations at its Cairo hub were notably overhauled due to the inauguration of the new Terminal 3 in April 2009. The airline transferred all its operations (international and domestic) to the new terminal that has more than doubled the airport's capacity. Under the Star Alliance “Move Under One Roof” concept at Cairo Airport, all Star Alliance member carriers serving Cairo, have moved to the new Terminal 3.
During the 2009 Paris Airshow, the airline announced a new venture with US lessor Aviation Capital Group (ACG) and other Egyptian private and public shareholders to establish a leasing joint venture focusing on the Middle East and Northern Africa region. The new joint venture - named Civil Aviation Finance and Operating Leases (CIAF-Leasing) will initially focus on narrowbody aircraft.
The carrier is a founding member of Arabesk Airline Alliance and the Arab Air Carriers Organization.
[edit] EgyptAir Holding Company
The EgyptAir Holding Company was created in 2002 with seven companies (two were added at later dates):
- EgyptAir Airlines
- EgyptAir Maintenance & Engineering (EASA Part 145 Certified)
- EgyptAir Ground Services
- EgyptAir Cargo
- EgyptAir In-flight Services
- EgyptAir Tourism & Duty Free Shops
- EgyptAir Medical Services
- EgyptAir Supplementary Industries Company (formed in 2006)
- EgyptAir Express (launched in June 2007)
[edit] Subsidiaries
The airline has stakes in
[edit] Destinations
So far in 2009, EgyptAir have launched services to Abuja, Almaty, Catania, Dar es Salaam and Sharq Al-Owainat.
The EgyptAir fleet has an average age of 5.2 years and consists of the following aircraft (at December 2009): [5]
EgyptAir Fleet | Aircraft | In
Service | Orders
(Options) | Passengers
(First/Business/Economy) | Routes | Notes |
| Airbus A320-200 | 13 | 0 | 145 (-/16/129)
144 (-/10/134)
171 (-/-/171) | Domestic, Africa, Europe, Middle East | 5 in the 145-seat configuration
7 in the 144-seat configuration
1 in the 171-seat configuration |
| Airbus A321-200 | 4 | 0 | 185 (-/10/175) | Domestic, Europe, Middle East | |
| Airbus A330-200 | 7 | (3) | 268 (-/24/244) | Europe, Africa, Asia | Aircraft to be reconfigured with new interiors from 2010 |
| Airbus A330-300 | 0 | 8 | 296 (-/36/260) | Europe, North America, Middle East | New business class featuring full lie-flat beds
New economy cabins will be equipped with PTV
Deliveries: From August 2010 |
| Boeing 737-500 | 4 | 0 | 104 (-/8/96) | Domestic, Africa, Europe, Middle East | SU-GBK operates Air Sinai flights
1 to exit service in 2010 |
| Boeing 737-800 | 12 | 8 | 160 (-/16/144)
144 (-/24/120) | Domestic, Africa, Europe, Middle East | 5 in the 160-seat configuration
7 in the 144-seat configuration
Deliveries: From late 2010 |
| Airbus A340-200 | 3 | 0 | 260 (12/24/224) | Japan, Middle East | Fleet to be gradually retired from 2010 |
| Boeing 777-200ER | 5 | 0 | 319 (12/21/286) | Bangkok (until 27MAR10), Guangzhou (until 28MAR10), Jeddah, London, New York | 3 aircraft to be retired in 2010 |
| Boeing 777-300ER | 0 | 6 | 340 (-/49/291) | TBD | Deliveries: March 2010 (1), 2010 (3), 2011 (1), 2012 (1)
All leased from GECAS
New business class featuring full lie-flat beds
New economy cabins will be equipped with PTV
Aircraft Registrations: SU-GDL/M/N/O/P/R |
| Total | 48 | 22 (+3) | | | Last updated: December 2009 |
As of November 2009, the EgyptAir Holding Company fleet (which includes EgyptAir Airlines, EgyptAir Express and EgyptAir Cargo) stood at 64 (+ 22 orders and 3 options).
As part of the airline's fleet renewal programme, EgyptAir has agreed an exclusive agreement with DVB´s Aviation Asset Management (subsidiary of Germany's DVB Bank) to re-market 3 of its 5 oldest Boeing 777-200ERs (SU-GBP/R/S) and all 3 Airbus A340-200s. All aircraft involved were delivered new to the airline in 1997.
Furthermore, EgyptAir wet leases additional aircraft to meet peak season passenger demand such as during the summer, during Ramadan and for special Hajj and Umrah operations (see below).
From 06 November 2009 to 16 December 2009 the airline will temporarily lease 2 Airbus A300-600R aircraft from Monarch Airlines to operate additional flights to Saudi Arabia (Jeddah and Medina) for the 2009 Hajj program. Each aircraft is configured with 361 economy class seats. Since 2005 EgyptAir annually leases from Monarch Airlines for Hajj flights.
[edit] Code Share Agreements
EgyptAir has code-share agreements with the following airlines (updated: December 2009)[6]:
| List of Codeshares | | Airline | Airport & City | Country | Alliance & Notes | | Asiana | Incheon International Airport, Seoul | South Korea | Star Alliance
Code sharing via respective carriers' flights to Kansai International Airport and Narita International Airport | | Austrian Airlines | Vienna International Airport, Vienna
The following are via Vienna Airport: | Austria  | Star Alliance | | bmi | London Heathrow Airport, London
The following are via Heathrow Airport:
The following are via Cairo Airport:
| United Kingdom  | Star Alliance | | Brussels Airlines | Brussels Airport, Brussels | Belgium  | Star Alliance
Effective 12 January 2010 | | Gulf Air | Bahrain International Airport, Bahrain | Bahrain  | | | Lufthansa | Frankfurt Airport, Frankfurt
Munich Airport, Munich | Germany  | Star Alliance | | Olympic Airlines | Athens International Airport, Athens | Greece  | Code share from Alexandria's El Nouzha Airport only | | Singapore Airlines | Singapore Changi Airport, Singapore
The following are via Changi Airport: | Singapore  | Star Alliance
Both airlines also code share via their respective flights to Suvarnabhumi Airport | | South African Airways | OR Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg | South Africa | Star Alliance | | Swiss International Airlines | Geneva International Airport, Geneva
Kloten Airport, Zurich | Switzerland | Star Alliance | | TAP Portugal | Portela Airport, Lisbon | Portugal  | Star Alliance | | Thai Airways International | Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok | Thailand  | Star Alliance | | Tunis Air | Carthage Airport, Tunis | Tunisia  | | | Turkish Airlines | Atatürk International Airport, Istanbul | Turkey  | Star Alliance | | United Airlines | John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York
The following are via Heathrow Airport: The following are via John F. Kennedy Airport: | United States of America  | Star Alliance | | Yemenia | Aden International Airport, Aden
Hodeida International Airport, Hodeida
Sana'a International Airport, Sana'a
Ta'izz International Airport, Ta'izz | Yemen  | MS code placed on IY operated flights to ADE, HOD & TAI
IY code placed on MS operated flights to SAH | [edit] Incidents and accidents - On 23 November 1985, EgyptAir Flight 648 operated by a Boeing 737 was hijacked to Malta Airport by three men from the Abu Nidal terrorist group. Omar Rezaq was among them. After several hours of negotiations, Egyptian troops stormed the aircraft and battled with the hijackers, who threw several hand grenades and shot / killed five Israeli and US passengers. The aircraft was severely damaged by the explosions and fire. Two of the six crew members and 59 of the 90 passengers were killed[14].
- On 31 October 1999, EgyptAir Flight 990, a Boeing 767 flying between New York City and Cairo, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Nantucket. The relief first officer of the flight, Gameel Al-Batouti, was suspected by U.S. authorities of committing suicide and intentionally crashing the plane. Egyptian officials have strongly disputed that claim.[15].
- On 7 May 2002, EgyptAir Flight 843, a Boeing 737-500, crashed into terrain in heavy rain, fog, and a sandstorm on its approach to Tunis, Tunisia, killing 15 of 64 occupants[16].
[edit] References [edit] External links | Links to related articles | | | Members of the International Air Transport Association | | | | | | Asia-Pacific regional office | | | | | | | China and North Asia regional office | | | | | | | | | | Latin America and the Caribbean regional office | | | | | | | Middle East and North Africa regional office | | | | | | | North America regional office | | | | | | | Russia and the CIS regional office | | | | | | | | |
