CAIRO: Businesses around Egypt are in the process of slowly reopening their doors and assessing their losses as well as finding ways to move forward after two weeks of protests resulted in unstable economic conditions.
During the first three days of the protests, EgyptAir saw an enormous increase in passengers flying out of Egypt out of fear for their safety.
“We obviously saw a mass increase in the beginning with people leaving, but after the initial group of people leaving the first few days, it died down a little,” says Mohamed Rahma, communications manager for EgyptAir.
He also added that the airline had to reduce their frequencies as well as re-route flights that travel via Cairo International Airport.
In the past couple weeks, many cities across Egypt, including Cairo, have had a curfew implemented to keep people off the streets at night.
“We completely cancelled night flights when the curfew was first implemented because passengers couldn’t come to the airport and our employees couldn’t come to work,” Rahma says.
“The airline abided by the curfew and only operated during the allowed times, but we are now slowly bringing those flights back,” he added.
Rahma also added that some of their flights, including those coming for Japan, were cancelled due to those governments issuing warnings against traveling to Egypt.
As far as finances go, he explained that the airline is currently trying to assess their losses and are not just looking at loss of passengers, but also other factors, such as wages, daily operational costs and equipment.
EgyptAir has an estimated 328 flights scheduled for this week going in and out of Egypt.
While some airlines, like EgyptAir, have continued to operate during the current uprising, some have chosen to discontinue flights to and from Egypt for the time being.
According to the Delta Airlines website, “Civil unrest has impacted travel to, from, or through Cairo, Egypt.”
The airline has suspended its service as of February 4 and scheduled to resume operations at the end of March.
Also affected by the loss of occupancy were hotels in the country, where some went from full occupancy to almost zero at a rapid rate due to the turmoil.
“All of our hotels in Egypt, except Sharm El-Sheikh have witnessed an almost complete exodus of business and leisure clients; the loss of revenues have been very high,” says Sarah Ibrahim, public relations manager for Four Seasons Hotel at Nile Plaza.
Among those who have departed the country in the past weeks, many were foreigners, both guests in the country as well as employees, who evacuated for safety reasons.
“Some foreign employees did not feel safe for themselves and their families and decided to leave the country for the time being,” Ibrahim said.
“Some others requested to be transferred to other Four Seasons hotels and we have been trying to help them in doing so if there is availability. Once the situation goes back to normal and demand increases, we will review our needs and bring back them back,” she added.
Ibrahim explained that while their occupancy is currently low, the company is staying open and currently developing several offers in the local and regional market to help bring people back to the country.
“As the situation stabilizes in Egypt, the travelers and the Western markets will eventually come back once they feel safe to do so,” she stated.
