Interview with AHMED WASFY Regional Manager - India and Sri Lanka for EGYPT AIR

Ahmed Wasfy has taken over as the Regional Manager - India & Sri Lankafor Egypt Air since September 2006. Tourism from India to Egypt has grown by 15% to reach a figure of 65000. The first half of 2007 has seen a larger number of tourists from India travelling to Egypt. Ahmed Wasfy, during the diamond jubilee year of Egypt Air, shares with our Editor the future plans of Egypt Air to make it the preferred carrier to the country that has the only surviving wonder of the ancient world.

How long have you been associated with Egypt Air?
I joined Egypt Air in 1984. I spent 5 years as a Traffic Assistant. Then in 1989, I moved on to the Sales Department where I was until 1995. In 1995, I was in the department of Market Research where I spent 3 years after which I was the Regional Manager in Yemen from 1999 until 2002. Thereafter I worked as Vice President in the Commercial Office and as Assistant General Manager before coming to India.

How long have you been the Country Manager in India and what has been your overall experience?
I reached Mumbai around mid-September 2006 and the growth to Egypt has been substantial as the Egyptian Tourism Authority has been investing in creating awareness about Egypt in India and there are several options for people who want to go to Egypt. Ideally, the minimum number of days that one should travel is for one week in which you can cover Cairo and do a 3 nights 4 days Nile Cruise. Egypt Air has flights operating twice a week from Mumbai- Wednesdays and Saturdays. As a result, if a passenger wants to travel for one week he can conveniently fly out on Saturday and return the following weekend whereas if you are planning a holiday for 11 days then you can fly out of Mumbai on Wednesday and return on Saturday of the following week. Additionally, we have convenient onward connections to major cities in Europe and USA as well as convenient connections to cities in the African Continent. There is increasing demand as is apparent from the flights that go to Cairo and there are people who even take a stopover in Cairo and then fly onwards to Europe or USA. There is huge demand and we plan increasing the frequency of flights to and from India as well as adding a new route with effect from June.

Currently Egypt Air operates flights to Cairo twice a week. What are the future plans?
We plan increasing the frequency with effect from July this year and having three flights a week. Additionally, with effect from June we will also be adding the Mumbai Kuala Lumpur sector, initially twice a week and then increasing it to three times a week. The flight from Kuala Lumpur to Mumbai will be connecting onwards to Cairo. This will be the first ever flight from the Far East Sector that flies via Mumbai into Cairo. We also plan to modify the timings of the flights so that the onward connections to Europe and USA is minimized and within 2 hours from reaching Cairo you can connect onwards to the European sectors.

Instead of Wednesdays and Saturdays, once three weekly flights are operational, it will be operating from Mumbai to Cairo on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays and will offer connections in less than two hours to Europe. We are also keen on adding a Delhi - Cairo flight out of India in the near future. Our ultimate objective is to have daily flights from India. We are adding one more flight from July onwards and hopefully in our winter timetable we would like to have four flights out of India and eventually go daily.

For the African continent, we will have convenient connections to Nairobi, Johannesburg, Casablanca and other major cities within the continent including the Gulf Region as well. For domestic flights within Egypt we plan to create a new airline banner under the Egypt Air umbrella called Egypt AirExpress which has small aircraft with capacity of 76 passengers with convenient connections from Cairo to Luxor and Aswan and we plan starting the Express flights from 2nd June to meet the increasing demand of domestic flights as there are many tourists who fly into Cairo and wish to take the Nile cruise from Aswan or Luxor. So we are also working to increasing the domestic network to meet the increasing demand in tourism. Currently Egypt gets 9 million visitors and we expect the number to increase and reach up to 16 million visitors by 2014 and we have to therefore increase the frequency of the domestic network. Egypt Air is the only carrier which offers a combination of international and domestic flights within Egypt at an extremely competitive price.

The clients also have the choice of booking flights from Cairo to Aswan and start their Nile Cruise and finish at Luxor and in case they plan to add a beach holiday they can drive down to Hurghada and then fly back from Hurghada to Cairo and onward to their next destination.

We also offer flights from Aswan to Abu Simbel and back so that you can visit the Temples in Abu Simbel and return in less than half a day. Other important sectors within Egypt are Sharm el Sheikh and Alexandria. Hurghada and Alexandria especially are popular destinations in the summer especially July and August when we have lots of visitors who come to relax either on the coast of the Red Sea or the Mediterranean Sea.

From your perspective what is the ideal number of days one must spend within Egypt?
I would say that one must spend atleast 3 days in Cairo, 2 days in Alexandria and to that add atleast 3 days of the Nile Cruise from Aswan to Luxor or vice versa. Then there is also Hurghada and Sharm el Sheikh. Sharm el Sheikh has some attractive beach side resorts and has been popular with the European market and now you have many Indians too who travel to Sharm el Sheikh as it gives all together a different perspective of Egypt.

How has the Freight Business grown in the past year?
The Cargo traffic has grown by 300% and recently we have appointed Allied Aviation as our new GSA and we have 10 to 15 tons of Cargo on each flight.

What are the challenges you face in your current assignment?
The greatest challenge is the major congestion at airport resulting in fuel loss as the aircraft at times has to circulate for almost 45 minutes. Mumbai has become an international city and there is a greater need to have more runaways and larger airports to handle the increasing traffic both in passenger and freight.

What is your view on the incoming tourism to India from Egypt?
More and more Egyptians are aware of how exciting India is as a destination and what all India has to offer. With more Indians travelling to Egypt, this has resulted in greater awareness about India and the people of India and due to the similarities in the culture, the growth in tourism as well as trade will be beneficial to both India and Egypt.

How did Egypt Air decide on adding the Kuala Lumpur route?
We have noticed that there are several airlines operating on this route and the number of people from Malaysia and Far East is gradually on the rise to Cairo. By adding this route, we are offering convenient connections to people of Malaysia to fly to Cairo as well as to Mumbai. We have introduced introductory promotional fares and we see a lot of potential in this route. If there is a scenario of increasing demand, till we increase our frequency we are also open to having code-share agreement with other airlines. To offer greater value to our frequent flyer members, we are also on the verge of becoming part of a major alliance or group of airlines so that passengers can avail of the facility of utilizing their frequent flyer miles across the network of airlines which are part of the global network. We are going to be a part of the Star Alliance Network.

Which are the places that you have visited in India and which is your preferred destination in Egypt?
As I have recently taken over the responsibilities in India, I had the opportunity to visit Delhi on official visits and I plan to travel within India in the near future. In Egypt, Alexandria is one of my favourite places although every place is good in its own way be it Luxor, Hurghada, Sharm el Sheikh or Aswan.

What are the places worth visiting during summer in Egypt?
Alexandria is very popular during summer being close to the Mediterranean Sea. Then there is Marsah Matruh which is on the Egypt Libya border and has beautiful beaches and a popular summer resort. It is around 240 kilometres west of Alexandria. Then there is also Hurghada which is popular during summer.

What way Egypt Air plans to celebrate its Diamond Jubilee year?
To mark the Diamond Jubilee celebration, Egypt Air is offering its passengers a new airline EgyptAir Express and has invested USD 170 million by acquiring 6 new mid-range Embraer aircrafts from a Brazilian aircraft manufacturer with an option to purchase 6 more aircraft by 2009. We will initially be offering domestic flights to popular routes and then later add flights to Marsa Alam, Borg El Arab as well as to the North Coast. We also plan taking Egypt Air Express to Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Libya, Sudan, Cyprus and Greece. In other words to all such routes which are within one-hour flying range from Egypt. Importantly, besides offering a 76 seater single class service, the air fares on EgyptAir Express will be lower than the scheduled carrier thus making travel more affordable to places within Egypt as well as to neighbouring countries. Egypt Air has also recently acquired 12 new aircraft taking its fleet to 62 aircraft.

Your message to readers
Egypt is a complete holiday destination which is worth visiting be it for culture, shopping, history, beautiful beaches, friendly people as well as the Sphinx and the Pyramids- the only surviving wonder of the ancient world and Egypt Air offers the best connections with direct non-stop flights from Mumbai.

FACTS ABOUT EGYPT AIR

• The year 2007 is when EGYPT AIR will celebrate its Diamond Anniversary (75th year) as the airline was established on 7th June 1932.

• The name of the Airline was changed to Misr Air in 1949, during the Second World War and later in 1961 Misr Air joined Syrian Airways to form United Arab Airlines or UAA.

• In October 1971 it was once again called Egypt Air as it became a state owned company. Although state owned, it operates as privately owned without any interference from the government.

• Egypt Air was the first airline in the Middle East to operate jet liners and it operates scheduled services to 70 destinations in Europe, Africa, Middle East, Far East, USA and Canada.

• Egypt Air is a member of the Arab Air Carriers Organization and is Africa's second biggest airline after South African Airways.

• Egypt Air wholly owns Air Sinai and has a 40% stake in Air Cairo.

• Egypt Air will be launching EgyptAir Express from June 2007 which will operate 6 Embraer E-170 aircraft from Cairo to Sharm el-Sheikh, Hurghada, Luxor, Aswan and Alexandria.

• Egypt Air has code sharing agreement with 14 international airlines and is soon going to be part of a global airline alliance.