By Mohamed Attia
A state of prosperity is being witnessed by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, led by Minister of Civil Aviation Mohamed Manar with the African brothers during the current period, as the ministry’s bodies and companies are working, based on the directives of the political leadership, to deepen its presence and expand its activities within the African continent.
The new activities of the Ministry of Civil Aviation within the African continent are to extend new lines to EgyptAir and Air Cairo, in addition to providing Umrah services and technical maintenance for many airlines.
These activities are also represented in the signing of many agreements, the most recent of which is the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority headed by Dr Ashraf Noir and the Senegalese Aviation Authority to regulate air transport rights between the two countries.
Its provisions included confirming the allocation of both EgyptAir Airlines and EgyptAir Cargo as an air carrier for passengers and goods on the Egyptian side, and Senegalese Airlines on the Senegalese side to operate 7 passenger flights in addition to two weekly cargo flights.
The memorandum of understanding also included the designation of Air Cairo, headed by Hussein Al Sharif, as a designated carrier by Egypt, to operate regular flights between Egypt and Senegal.
The agreement included an appendix allowing designated companies of both sides to enter into code sharing arrangements between themselves or with a third party.
On the level of EgyptAir, it has sought during the last period to strengthen its presence in the countries of the African continent, as it launched a new line to the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo at a rate of 3 flights per week.
The national company also signed a contract that includes the national company’s acquisition of 49 per cent of the shares of Sudan Airways Company. EgyptAir will supply Sudan Airways with four planes operating under the umbrella of the sister company and bearing its logo.
EgyptAir also provides, in accordance with the concluded contract, technical support to its Sudanese counterpart, in return for EgyptAir to exploit all the transportation lines of the Sudanese company from Khartoum to all points in Africa, allowing EgyptAir to penetrate and expand in Africa and cover new African points that it did not reach, which is a pioneering step that aims to Saleh to strengthen relations with the African continent.
EgyptAir also signed a memorandum of understanding with Ghana, according to which EgyptAir becomes a strategic partner in establishing a new airline affiliated to the Ghanaian government, and EgyptAir’s share will be 70 per cent of its capital.
Under the memorandum, EgyptAir supports the nascent Ghanaian company with eight planes, half of them are wide-class and the other half are medium-class. In return, EgyptAir will win all transport rights for the Ghanaian company to all points around the world and within Africa.
EgyptAir Maintenance and Engineering, headed by Engineer Yehia Zakaria, inaugurated a new aircraft maintenance center at Kotoka Airport in the Ghanaian capital of Accra, to provide daily maintenance services to serve EgyptAir planes in addition to Qatar Airways planes that operate flights to Accra Airport as a first step towards Targeting many new customers.
On the other hand, Air Cairo, affiliated to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, signed a memorandum of partnership with one of the fledgling airlines Supreme in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, to be the nucleus of a large company in the sister country.
By activating these agreements, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has succeeded, through its two companies, EgyptAir and Air Cairo, in acquiring most of the points of the continent. In the south, there is a partnership with Supreme Airlines in South Sudan, in the east there is a memorandum with the Sudanese Airlines Company, and in the west of Africa there is a partnership with Ghana Company while in the north, EgyptAir already controls.
Amr Aboul-Enein, head of EgyptAir, stated that within the framework of the Ministry of Civil Aviation’s vision to enhance its presence within the African continent in various fields of air transport through Cairo’s hub airport, and in line with the directions of the state and its interest in supporting co-operation with African countries, EgyptAir has developed ambitious plans to expand its network to reach new heights within points of strategic importance in Africa to provide customers with many travel options on board the latest models of aircraft.
