The challenge of balancing quality and price in difficult political and economic times is made all the more difficult for Egypt’s handlers in the light of continuing security concerns
Egypt’s history over the last few decades has been marked by numerous terrorist attacks alongside economic struggles and concerns about human rights violations under a dictatorial regime. Protests against President Hosni Mubarak led to a revolution in 2011, military crackdowns and a coup d’état removing power from the then President Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
The current President, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, was elected in 2014, and (although his rule has included mass trials, widespread jailing of opponents and a crackdown on civil liberties), things have stabilised in recent times, according to Bahaa Tharwat, market research manager at Egyptair Ground Services Company (EGS). Presidential and parliamentary elections have led to the formation of a stable government, which has taken significant steps towards economic reform that Tharwat believes is essential to the Egyptian economy as a whole.
In addition: “Both airlines and ground handlers have huge support from the holding company for airports and navigation which is reflected in continuous meetings and communications with both sides, and in taking all the needed steps to raise the security bars and procedures at all airports.”
Ground handling in Egypt is improving in respect of working practices and service quality. For example, EGS was one of the first five companies in the world to obtain ISAGO (IATA Safety Audit for Ground Operations) and is now certified at six stations in Egypt: Cairo, Hurghada, Sharm el Sheikh, Borg El Arab–Alexandria, Luxor and Aswan. The company remains focused on training and is also in the process of renewing its equipment, investing in passenger steps, conveyor belts, air conditioning units (ACU), air start units (ASU), potable water trucks, toilet trucks and passenger buses.
Another handler, Z-Aviation Services (ZAS – which operated as an airline itself between 1982 and 1997 and, as such, has first-hand understanding of the needs of its airline customers) is also ISAGO certified and RA3 registered, while Link Aero Trading Agency holds a security licence from the Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority and prides itself on its “top-of-the-line” security services.
Tharwat is hopeful that the overall political stability in Egypt will continue for at least the next couple of years, leading to growth in both passenger and freight transport demand and possibly a return to pre-2010 figures. Nonetheless, he has an eye on “some promising opportunities” outside the country, too.
Looking back on last year, Sami Elias, vice president commercial and operations at ZAS, characterises 2016 as “a year of hard work. Egypt fulfilled all its obligations in terms of security and equipment. It has to be noted that the representatives of different countries, who had visited Egyptian airports, remarked on significant progress. At the moment, the number of tourists in the country is slowly growing, with some countries resuming air travel and others promising to do so in the near future. Egyptian experts are certain that the tourists will come back.”
SETBACK
However, this issue of AGS went to press in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on two Coptic churches in Tanta and Alexandria that took place on Palm Sunday. Egypt is now several weeks into a three-month state of emergency declared by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and the country’s tourism industry has taken another hit just as it seemed to be picking itself up.
The UK Foreign Office, as well as its equivalents in some other countries, warns travellers of “a high threat from terrorism in Egypt. Terrorists continue to plan and conduct attacks. Further attacks are likely. Most terrorist attacks target the security forces, their facilities and other government buildings. You should take great care near these places. It’s also likely that foreigners, including tourists, will be targeted.”
Egypt is also among the countries affected by the laptop ban imposed by the US and UK, which requires large electronic devices to be stowed in the hold and not brought into the cabin in hand luggage on flights originating in certain Middle Eastern and North African nations that are deemed to present a high security risk.
According to Tharwat, the ban on flights from some countries due to security concerns continues to present a significant challenge. “Most countries have removed the ban but still we are facing difficulties with receiving flights from both UK and Russia,” he says.
With air travel having fallen for all these reasons, competition among Egypt’s handlers has naturally become fierce. The airports most affected are those that depend for their business mainly on international tourists – Sharm el Sheikh, Hurghada, Luxor and Aswan.
Elias is not surprised. Egypt, he says, is naturally more of a target for terrorists than some other locations. “What do we expect when we have a little town (Luxor) that contains a third of the world’s monuments? What do we expect, when Egypt is in a strategic position for holiday makers from all over the world?
“Global terrorist organisations continue to demonstrate motivation to carry out attacks on the aviation industry,” he adds. In the light of that fact, and the use of the technology such as the Internet (closed forums or social media sites, for instance) as a tool for the discussion and planning of these attacks, Elias considers: “If we agree that the whole world is in one war against one enemy, then it is [a case of] cooperation on all levels from every country with every country, working day and night to adapt our capabilities, training, etc to match and comply with the new non-stop ways of conducting attacks.”
Link Aero Trading Agency CEO Amr Samir notes that although the Egyptian airport authorities have always implemented international security standards, “they have also been investing in more sophisticated security measures in order to regain trust from the tourism sector”.
POSITIVE
Taking a wider view, geopolitical issues across the Middle East have had a negative impact on the handling business elsewhere in the region besides Egypt, and major airports in countries where there are active conflicts or instability have been subject to significant declines in activity. But: “Air traffic in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha hubs will still be strong as they are mainly driven by the major Middle Eastern carriers using these airports to connect the Asia Pacific region with Europe,” Samir says.
The ongoing expansion of the private jet industry is also keeping Middle Eastern aviation growing rapidly, he notes. This trend is creating opportunities for ground handling companies in the region – including some Egyptian firms, who are focusing on their neighbouring countries to obtain more business. Link Aero, for instance, is strengthening its operational bases in Jordan, UAE and Morocco by transferring experienced employees. It is also studying other opportunities in Africa with a view to expansion into new markets in order to help mitigate the negative effects of the unstable aviation sector in Egypt – all the while remaining hopeful that better times are soon to come.
