http://www.dfnionline.com/ Egyptair Duty Free Shops secures Cairo T2 concession (1) Travel retailer Egyptair Duty Free Shops, the national carrier’s dutyfree division, is one of three duty-free operators to be awarded concessions at the revamped Cairo International airport terminal two due to open next April, following a Cairo Airport Company commercial tender earlier this year, DFNIonline can confirm. Cairo Airport Duty Free (Chaloub Group) and Dufry Group are the winners of the two remaining concessions, DFNIonline understands. Egyptair Tourism (Karnak) & Duty Free vice-president of duty-free Saad Mohamed Ahmed Meabed toldDFNIonline that Egyptair Duty Free, which already runs around 1,300sq m of retail space in T1 and 3,500sq m in T3 at Cairo airport, will operate a further 1,550sq m in T2, which closed for a full three-year $400m renovation in 2010. The renovation began in 2012 and on re-opening next year, T2 will be dedicated to OneWorld and SkyTeam carriers with an annual capacity of around 7.5 million passengers. According to Meabed, 700sq m of its T2 space will be in departures with the rest in arrivals and the contract will be for five years. Meabed also revealed to DFNIonline that the company, which is present in most major Egyptian International airports including Sharm el Sheikh and Hurghada as well as downtown, will be joined in T2 departures by Cairo Airport Duty Free (Chaloub Group) and Dufry Group—the latter will also run an arrivals concession alongside Egyptair Duty Free, according to Meabed. DFNIonline has contacted Cairo Airport Company and Dufry Group for confirmation and further information, the former confirming the concession awards and the latter yet to respond.
http://www.dfnionline.com/
(2) Meabed told DFNIonline: “Competition will be tough because we have never had a contract where three [duty-free operators] have worked in the same terminal. We are actually quite confident we will manage as at the end of the day this is the situation we have to face.” The company does, however, have experience of working with two other operators in Cairo T3, which it hopes will stand it in good stead. “We were working exclusively in terminal three until Chaloub joined over there. This actually made us perform even better. Our turnover increased and net profitability was higher than previously. Working alongside two operates is much easier and can be accepted, but to have three over there will be quite tough.” He added: “When you have this kind of competition it energises people to do more, which we hope will be the case in Cairo T2.” DFNIonline will bring you more as this story develops and the winners of the other concessions (food and beverage, other retail and pharmacies) are announced. Please see the November edition of DFNI for more on Egyptair Duty Free Shops’ ambitious expansion plans in Cairo and elsewhere. .
http://www.thecairopost.com/
Plane crashes on takeoff from South Sudan airport: reports, witnesses JUBA: A plane crashed on Wednesday shortly after taking off from an airport in South Sudan, killing 10 people on board, a police officer and local media reported. Two survived, they said. Reuters witnesses said the tail fin of the plane and other parts were scattered along the banks of the White Nile River near the airport in Juba, the capital. A police officer near the scene, who did not give his name, said there were two survivors, including a child, but could not say how many people were on board or give further details. The aircraft was a cargo plane with five Russian crew and seven passengers, South Sudan Tribune, a local media outlet, said on Twitter. It also said two people survived, one of them a child. .
http://www.ibnlive.com/
Cargo airplane crashes in South Sudan, 25 dead: UN radio Juba: At least 25 people were killed on Wednesday when a plane crash-landed shortly after taking off from South Sudan's capital Juba, according to AFP. Police were pulling the bodies of men, women and children out of the wreckage of the cargo plane, which crashed into a small farming community on a small island in the White Nile river, close to Juba airport, the reporter said, who counted at least 25 dead. .
http://www.independent.co.uk/
Fog hits UK travel: London airports face third day of disruptions For the third day in a row, passengers using airports in the London area will face disruption on Tuesday because of heavy fog. At Heathrow, the “flow rate” of landings and take-offs will be reduced tomorrow morning, forcing airlines to cancel flights. British Airways is offering short-haul passengers the chance to postpone their journeys free of charge, and is telling them: “Please do not come to the airport unless you have a confirmed booking on a flight that is operating.” What is fog and why is the UK so foggy right now? On the day when the planet’s travel industry was due to converge on London for the annual World Travel Market, hundreds of delegates were unable to reach the capital. Thick fog lingered over London throughout Monday morning, leading to hundreds of flight cancellations that affected tens of thousands of travellers. Among the airlines at Gatwick, easyJet was the worst affected. After dozens of the budget airline’s flights were delayed or cancelled on Sunday, many more were hit today. British Airways cancelled more than 50 flights to and from Heathrow, and over 60 to and from London City airport. The Docklands airport was closed all morning, with visibility down to around 50 metres. Flybe, CityJet and Swiss cancelled multiple operations from London City, and BA’s business-class only arrival from New York to London City was diverted to Gatwick. Most of the other affected flights were short-haul, but intercontinental services on Air India to Delhi and United to Chicago were respectively severely delayed and cancelled. The problems highlighted the lack of resilience in the London airport system; Heathrow and Gatwick are respectively the busiest dual-runway and singlerunway airports in the world. Outside the capital, many of the cancellations were flights to and from the London airports. But morning flights from Bristol to the key hubs of Amsterdam, Brussels and Frankfurt were cancelled, a pattern repeated at
several other regional airports .
http://uk.reuters.com/
Lufthansa cabin crew reject new management overtures The main cabin crew union at Lufthansa dismissed an effort by management to avert a potential week-long strike by calling the airline's latest proposals a "PR stunt". Flight attendants' union UFO had said on Monday it would call for a strike on Nov. 6-13 if Lufthansa did not put forward a serious offer by Thursday evening in a long-running row over pension costs and early retirement benefits. The airline earlier on Wednesday said the demands of the cabin crew union would increase costs by 25 percent, but that it would send the union four new variants of its previous offer as a basis for new talks. Nicoley Baublies, head of the UFO union, described that as "old wine in new bottles" and confirmed plans to strike should a new offer not be forthcoming. Lufthansa, which is negotiating with various staff groups to cut costs and reduce its pension burden by moving to definedcontribution from defined-benefit schemes, also said the threat of strike action had resulted in more customers cancelling flights this week than usual. Along with the cabin crew row, the airline is still in talks with pilots' union Vereinigung Cockpit over pay and retirement benefits. Talks also commence on Thursday with union Verdi concerning retirement benefits for around 33,000 ground, cargo and other cabin crew staff. The cabin crew union had previously threatened strikes over the summer but backed down after Lufthansa offered a compromise. But the pilots' union has staged strikes this year, most recently in September, costing the airline 130 million euros ($142 million) in the first nine months of the year. .
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/
Cabin crew union says Lufthansa strikes unavoidable FRANKFURT, Nov 5 (Reuters) - The head of Lufthansa's main cabin crew union said strikes at the carrier are now "unavoidable", after the union reviewed the latest proposals on pensions and early retirement benefits from management. Lufthansa had tried to encourage the union, which represents around 19,000 flight attendants, back to the negotiating table by sending across on Wednesday some new variants of a deal based around previous proposals. The union had on Monday said that it would call for a week-long strike from Friday if Lufthansa management did not make a better offer by 1600 GMT on Thursday. (Reporting by Peter Maushagen; Writing by Victoria Bryan; Editing by Maria Sheahan)
http://www.iata.org/
Air Freight Markets Grow Slightly in Septembe Geneva - The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released data for global air freight markets showing very modest growth in September. Measured in Freight Tonne Kilometers, air cargo volumes rose 1.0% compared to the same month a year ago. This is a slight improvement on the August performance when volumes were broadly stable. Overall, however, air cargo volumes remain 1.2% down from their 2014 year-end peak. The results varied widely by region. Carriers in the Middle East reported the most significant growth (7.5%) followed by European (2.8%) and African airlines (2.5%). Asia-Pacific based airlines recorded negligible growth (0.3%), and markets in North America (3.3%) and Latin America (-6.4%) recorded declines. All regions reported capacity expansions ahead of growth in demand, taking the freight load factor down to the lowest level since 2009 (43.2%). “Although slightly improved from August, the global trend is fragile, and the improvement is narrowly based. The 2.8% growth reported by European carriers reflects positive trends in trade with Central and Eastern European economies as well as a general improvement in manufacturing in the Eurozone. But the largest air cargo region, Asia-Pacific, was only just in positive territory, held down by weak regional trade,� said Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO.
http://www.atn.aero/ ICAO PANEL DELIVERS IMPORTANT NEW RECOMMENDATIONS ON LITHIUM BATTERY SHIPMENTS State and industry experts on the ICAO Dangerous Goods Panel (DGP) agreed to important new recommendations last week on the restriction of lithium battery shipments carried on passenger and freighter aircraft, the Council President of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) confirmed today. “The proposal to require lithium batteries to have a state of charge of 30% or less, when carried in shipments on commercial aircraft, was felt to be prudent enough to improve aviation safety while a packaging performance standard is being developed,” highlighted Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu. “This recommendation will still permit the rapid and reliable global transit of what has become a vital energy source for people and businesses everywhere in the world.” President Aliu clarified that the DGP’s recommendations must still be reviewed under ICAO’s Air Navigation Commission (ANC), before ultimately being brought before the UN aviation agency’s 36-State Council for final assessment and decision. “ICAO greatly values the time and effort of all its panel experts in bringing forward these types of recommendations,” he noted. “The Air Navigation Commission has been requested to prioritize its review of the DGP’s proposed measures and the Council hopes to see a final proposal by early next year. This collaborative process does take some time, but in the end it delivers consensus-based and effective long-term safety progress for international civil aviation.”
http://atwonline.com/ UK delays flights from Sharm el-Sheikh, citing Metrojet probe The UK government has taken the “precautionary step” of delaying flights that had been scheduled to fly from Sharm elSheikh, Egypt to the UK the evening of Nov. 4. It cited new “information” from the investigation into the Metrojet Airbus A321 that crashed in the Sinai Peninsula Oct. 31. In addition, the Irish Aviation Authority said Nov. 4 it was directing “Irish airline operators not to operate to/from Sharm el‐Sheikh Airport, Egypt or in the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula airspace until further notice.” UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s office issued a statement Nov. 4 saying that “as more information has come to light we have become concerned that the plane may well have been brought down by an explosive device.” Cameron’s office said delaying flights from Sharm el-Sheikh bound for the UK “will allow time for a team of UK aviation experts, currently traveling to Sharm, to make an assessment of the security arrangements in place at the airport and to identify whether any further action is required. We expect this assessment to be completed tonight.” The statement added that Cameron has spoken to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi “to discuss what measures the Egyptians are taking to ensure the tightest possible security arrangements at Sharm el-Sheikh airport.” Cameron’s office emphasized that it “cannot say categorically why the Russian jet crashed.”
ادارة العالقات العامة -الشركة القابضة لمصر للطيران