JEDDAH – Egypt Air successfully handled the travel needs of some 70,000 pilgrims in the recent pilgrimage season, airline's Regional Director Gamal El Gazar in Jeddah said on Tuesday at a press conference held in his office in Jeddah. He attributed the smooth delivery to the teamwork spirit within the sector where the all individuals did their work professionally and seriously with unrivaled dedication. He paid tribute to Saudi authorities “with all the facilities provided to Egypt Air, which in turn resulted in accelerating the performance and achieving the required work.” Egypt Air's won the praise of everyone, he added. “Egypt Air transferred 67,000 pilgrims up and 70,000 in down flights on 272 flights including all segments of pilgrims and transit pilgrims from all over the world, in addition to Palestinian, Accra and Abuja pilgrims.” El Gazar said. He said only Egypt Air planes were used during pilgrimage season and with 10 percent increase than the planned numbers. Pilgrimage mission president Ahmad Shahin said the successful season came due to the hard work of airport staff in Jeddah and Madinah and pilgrims' compliance to the exact number of luggage and the absence of excess weight luggage. “Egypt Air was also keen to serve aged and ill pilgrims, providing wheelchairs an making sure that not a single luggage was lost,” Shahin said. On the development in Egypt Air, El Gazar said that 75 percent of Egypt Air fleet is modern. He also mentioned that new weekend and mid-year vacation competitive offers would be launched soon in the main cities of the Kingdom such as Jeddah, Riyadh, Madinah, Dammam, Dhahran, Abha and Qassim to visit the monuments and touristic spots in Egypt. Asked about "Hurghada" as a touristic destination for Saudis and why there are no direct Egypt Air flights, “Operating costs are the main obstacle facing the company,” El Gazar said. He moreover confirmed that the success of Sharm flights and the high demand motivated Egypt Air to study initiating Hurghada flights as the most attractive spot for travelers. El Gazar ruled out competition with Saudia, however both work in harmony and continuous cooperation in order to serve passengers, referring to the depth of the relationship that linked Egypt Air with Saudia that always come out with new and creative ideas to enrich the air traffic.
On low cost airlines, El Gazar claimed that Egypt Air was not affected by any means, saying that low cost airlines passengers were land or sea passengers before. The meeting was attended by Dr. Said Yahya, president of the Egyptian community and his deputy, Muhammad Abu El-Aish, Egypt Air station manager Adel Helal and Egypt Air Director of Public Relations and Media Abdel Azim Mohamed.
