In order to woo tourists travel to Egypt post their democratic
movement in January, 2011, Egyptair has doubled its baggage allowance
for its international and domestic passengers. With this, Egyptair
becomes one of the very few airlines in the world to allow two checked
in bags free of charge on both its international and domestic sectors.
This
was announced by Mr Medhat Nabil, General Manager Egyptair and Mr Adel
EL Masry, Director Egyptian Tourism Office in India following the
decision taken by the airline in Egypt. Commenting on the development,
Mr Adel El Masy said, "Egyptian tourism has taken a toll in the wake of
the recent political turmoil in the country. However, everything is
behind us now and we are making all possible efforts to ensure that the
country that has more than 12% of its GDP from tourism alone, does not
further face any problems and extends all comforts to the visiting
guests. With the baggage allowance going up Egyptair has ensured that
tourists enjoy even the shopping experience."
"Because of the
recent political movement, the airline had lost its business
considerably. This move will help Egyptair attract more and more
tourists from all over the world and not only India, as people, when
they travel abroad, like to travel in their comfort zone with all their
personal articles on them. This will be one incentive to travel to Egypt
as not many airlines allow such baggage allowance", said Mr. Medhat
Nabil.
Egypt Air currently has three weekly flights from Mumbai
to Cairo. "We will plan to increase the number of flights as well in the
near future as soon as the number of passengers to Cairo starts
increasing. "With increase in baggage allowance, we are hopeful to
coming back to normalcy very soon", said Mr. Hussein Massoud, EGYPTAIR HOLDING CHAIRMAN &CEO
in Cairo. He further added "Even internally, people feel safer
traveling. We expect internal tourism pick up as well as a result of
this endeavor. In spite of the increase of operating costs because of
the soaring oil prices, EGYPT AIR has launched this new policy to
support the Egyptian customers and to encourage the tourism traffic into
Egypt."
The new baggage allowance enables the
economy class customers on all international flights to carry 2 free
bags, 23 kilos each, with a total of 46 kilos. On the other hand,
business class customers can carry two free pieces of baggage with 32
kilos each; this is in addition to one hand bag accompanied onboard with
a maximum weight of 7 kilos on all classes.
Moreover, customers
flying to any domestic destination in Egypt can carry one baggage with a
maximum of 23 kilos on economy, 32 kilos on business in addition to 7
kilos to be carried onboard. EGYPTAIR Plus frequent flyers can enjoy
additional benefits, as the gold card holders can carry an additional
baggage with a maximum of 23 kilos. Further, the silver card holders
will enjoy a 50 % discount on the third piece; this is in addition to
other benefits such as the upgrade to a higher class, redeeming the
points with free tickets, using the lounges around the globe, priority
check-in and priority baggage handling.
Attracting tourist needs a
strategy which includes a combination of factors like frequent airline
connectivity both domestic & international, reasonable air fare, and
benefits for the travelers which EgyptAir is assertively taking into
consideration to increase tourist traffic in places such as Cairo,
Luxor, Sharm el-Sheikh, Alexandria, Aswan which had suffered a slowdown
during the democratic movement.
More information about the new policy is available through
www.egyptair.com or through calling 1717 from any mobile, 090070000 from any landline in Egypt.
» Read More...
