The General Union of Air Transport has appointed Hijazi al-wakil as its legal advisor to develop the union’s legal regulations, for when they are presented formally.
Chairman of the union and NESMA Airlines Ashraf Lamloum said that the regulations will be presented to the Board of Directors for discussion after the end of Eid Al Fitr holidays and will be submitted to the Minister of Aviation. The main points of the regulations are agreement among all members on the rules that govern the work of the Union, exchange of experiences, and to avoid conflict of interests between the members.
He pointed out that the union’s rules prevent companies from flooding the market with tickets and the recruitment of the same crews to different companies, except with their consent. He noted that all companies are working on the same systems to ensure honest competition
Lamloum said that some employees ruin the aviation market by moving between companies and then travel to the Gulf States after the local companies have provided them with a lot of training courses.
He added that the regulations ensure the integration of airlines under the umbrella of the Ministry of Aviation and their efforts to save funds. The union also helps to reduce the value of insurance when buying aircraft, as well as fees.
Lamloum added that membership to the union is open to all airlines and all related agencies, especially since there are 17 agencies and shipping companies in the union, however, the active membership will be limited to airlines.
He further added that the agencies will benefit from their membership in the Union as they get fuel in the Egyptian pound, though this will not be repeated in order to preserve the public interest of the state.
He continued that the union will help companies to get their rights from various aviation authorities.
He pointed out that the union does not study launching investments but it will sponsor the aviation and tourism exhibitions in Egypt.
Lamloum stressed that the union can not conflict with Egypt Air, but it will integrate with it and use its own system as well as launching joint marketing plans. The union will present its ideas to EgyptAir being the national airline and must be supported by all parties.
The union will confront violations of the law and prevent giving privileges to private airlines on the expense of other companies.
According to Lamloum the current crisis of EgyptAir lies in high labor and the decline of the successful airlines that can compensate losses.
Lamloum expects the declaration of the union by the end of this year and present its regulations to the Minister of Aviation, the parliament, the Cabinet and finally the President of the Republic to issue an official decree.
He said that the union will give the Minister of Aviation some powers if he supported the union without interfering in the members’ decisions, so that the role of the ministry will be only supervision.
He added that the challenges facing aviation include the instability of the market in light of the successive travel warnings to the region, in addition to the lack of sufficient investments in the sector, and the government bureaucracy that disrupts projects in navigation, airports and others.
He called for the support of airlines by paying the value of fuel in pounds and offer 50 percent cut on government services.
Lamloum said that the aircraft loads range from 60 percent to 70 percent adding that when the rate is less than 78 percent, it leads to losses.
He stressed that the union will confront manipulation of prices in the coming period by filing a complaint against companies that violate the Civil Aviation Authority, threatening to suspend the violating companies’ license in addition to expelling them from the union.
He said that the severing of relations between Egypt and Qatar does not affect the private airlines except Air Cairo, where it operated four weekly flights to Doha, while the impact is positive and a golden opportunity for EgyptAir to turn Cairo airport into a hub. He pointed out that the Middle East region is a high risk area, which increases the value of insurance and aircraft and other services to companies by 25 and 30 percent compared to the more quiet areas. He said that the private aviation fleet is represented in four aircraft of the company’s Nesma Airlines (4) Nile (6) EgyptAir (3) EMC (5).
