By Mohamed Attia
EgyptAir Ground Services Company announced its contract with the Chinese company Hainan through its service agent in Egypt, the World Air Travel Office, to provide ground handling services for the Chinese company’s aircraft at Cairo International Airport, where the Chinese company started operating its flights to Cairo again after a suspension of flights since 2010.
Engineer Ibrahim Fawzi, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Executive Managing Director of EgyptAir Ground Services Company, stated that the company aims to provide its services to the largest number of airlines at Egyptian airports, especially in light of the growing tourism movement. He explained that the company will strive during the coming period to expand the scope of its services during the coming period to serve the increasing air and tourism traffic.
Fawzi added that Hainan Company will operate 3 weekly flights, and it is expected to increase to 4 weekly flights with the start of the summer season using Boeing B787 and Airbus A330 aircraft.
The first flight of the Chinese company was received by Engineer Ibrahim Fawzi and the leaders of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Ministry of Tourism, as well as the officials of the Chinese company, who praised the service provided and the cooperation made between all the parties involved in providing the service to the company.
On the other hand, the current period is witnessing a growing cooperation between Egypt and China in the civil aviation sector. The Chinese embassy held a celebration a few weeks ago at the Meridian Airport Hotel under the title “A Journey with Ancient Civilizations – A Dream of Linking Asia and Africa” on the occasion of the inauguration of the new airline between Cairo and Shanghai by China Eastern Airlines. The event was attended by Lieutenant General Pilot Mohamed Abbas Helmy, Minister of Civil Aviation, Chinese Ambassador to Cairo Liao Liqiang, Engineer Yahya Zakaria, Chairman of the Holding Company for EgyptAir, Pilot Mohamed Moussa, Chairman of the Board of Directors of EgyptAir Airlines, and Major General Mohamed Kamel, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Egyptian Company for Aviation Services “EAS”, the service agent at Cairo Airport for the Chinese company. And Omar Al-Zarqani, General Manager of ZES Company, which is the main representative of China Eastern Airlines, and Ammar Al-Zarqani, Executive Director of the Aviation Department at ZES Company, and a number of officials from the Chinese airline company and sales agents in Egypt.
During the celebration, Lieutenant General Pilot Mohamed Abbas, Minister of Civil Aviation, stressed in his speech the strength and depth of the distinguished Egyptian-Chinese relations based on fruitful cooperation between them. He pointed out that Egypt and China have been linked by historical relations since the dawn of history, as the two countries have two civilizations that extend their roots to thousands of years.
The Minister of Aviation added that the opening of the new line comes within the framework of a series of partnerships and successes that reflect the results of the efforts made between the two friendly countries.
The Minister of Aviation pointed out that the efforts and support efforts made by the governments of the two countries to activate the air and tourism movement between them, especially in light of the consensus of visions between Egypt and China on a number of issues of common interest, which achieved fruitful results in various fields. He pointed out that the past period has witnessed the highest growth rates in air traffic between Egypt and China, especially since the launch of the latest lines of the national company EgyptAir to the city of Shanghai.
EgyptAir had operated a direct air route between Cairo and Shanghai, China, during the month of November, using a Boeing 777-300 aircraft, with three weekly flights on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
