GHI FEBRUARY 2008 27 Open Sky policy in Egypt, especially at Cairo airport. “In addition, the political situation in the Middle East now affects to a great extent the tourism sector in Egypt, which has led to a decrease in the number of flights.” Expansion prospects undimmed According to Link Aero Trading Agency, currently both the Middle East and Africa are experiencing unprecedented growth, despite international conflict and ongoing regional tensions. Says Chairman Amr Samir: “Traffic has continued to grow in recent years for the region’s air carriers. Since 1992, Link Aero Trading Agency has provided an economical means of rendering ground handling services and Civil Aviation permission to more than 100 clients including government, military, private, scheduled and charter operators. Our services cover Egypt, most of Africa, the Middle and the Far East.” With a team approaching 400 members, the company has handled a year, has 40 check-in counters and has been designed to cater for a large number of international and chartered flights: it’s ranked the second busiest airport in Egypt after Cairo. “The growing Marsa Allam International airport is actually the first privately-owned and operated airport in Egypt under a complete BOT (Buy/Operate/Transfer) contract for 40 years from ECAA. The airport was a response to the increasing needs of travellers to reach Link Aero Agency reports increased traffic in 2007. more than 14m passengers and over 50,000 flights in the past 15 years. “In the first quarter of 2007 we established an operational base in Jordan, from whence we proceeded to Morocco. Moreover, we are planning an expansion to open permanent branches in Tunisia and Cyprus to enable us to fulfil all our customers’ needs. We see in our statistics for the last 12 months that airline desire to operate within Africa and the Middle East has increased, with particular emphasis on flights to and from Egypt. Egypt is one of the region’s most visited countries, with fully booked hotels and resorts for almost the whole year. Meanwhile, its aviation sector has been steadily gaining momentum, starting with the government’s measured liberalisation programmes five years back. You can obviously see and feel this improvement in several airports. Cairo International airport (now the second busiest airport in Africa, after Johannesburg), after having renovated Terminal 1 and executed Terminal 4 (the VIP terminal), is now hurrying to complete Terminal 3, which is scheduled to open in March 2008. This will double the airport’s capacity, enabling it to provide passengers and airlines with stateof- the-art services and facilities. “Sharm El Sheikh International, since the inauguration of the second terminal building in May 2007, has reached 8m passengers

28 FEBRUARY 2008 GHI this southern Red Sea virgin destination after Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada. “In our ground handling company business we address the service requirements of an aircraft between the time it arrives at the airport and the time it departs to its destination, so speed, efficiency and accuracy are important factors in minimising the turnaround time for our clients. We are looking for young, highly educated and motivated staff to be recruited by our organisation. Whilst our aim is to hire staff eager to learn they must have a good sense of customer service and be able to meld with the rest of the team, especially during peak periods and unexpected handling situations.” Amr sets great store by training, which is a very important department in his organisation. “We are convinced that such a department, with its strategy for providing all staff (senior and new alike) with up-todate industry knowledge and hi-tech solutions, results in a perfect ground handling service to our clients. “Significant improvement is always taking place in our training department, thus the entire organisation and working force can deal with any unexpected events, in any airport and at any time.” As far as he is concerned, both the Middle East and Africa will require industry finance on top of everything else: ultimately, he would like to see players bringing together handling agents, airlines, financiers and insurers. “Thus both regions could forge ahead with massive airport infrastructure expansion and moderately exciting aviation developments, including the areas of ground handling staff and equipment. Revitalisation of the aviation sector across Africa can be achieved by first of all enhancing safety; secondly by developing airport infrastructure and finally by liberalising the aviation management sector.” For MEAG, last year was a little below expectations in terms of density of traffic. “However,” says Richard Mujais, General Manager, “we were able to gain two new contracts, namely Ras el Khaimah and the UN. “We had already started increasing all types of GSE in order to cope with our fleet expansion as well as our replacement plan, which saw large equipment orders on a three year purchase span. Manufacturers are chosen via a tender process with a specialised team who look at the technical suitability, support function and product price.” Richard relates that investing in staff training has always been a key issue for the handler. “In order to meet this challenge, an effective training plan is now in place that does not only look at providing in-house operations training but also emphasises managerial courses designed to achieve the highest level of professionalism within the industry. Our trainers, who constantly participate in training programmes offered by large airline organisations, develop local up-to-date training programmes according to IATA specifications. “For the coming year, in spite of the fact that instability in the region directly affects our operation, 2008 will witness a number of issues. There will be a renewal of our ISO certification and ISAGO certification. We are looking at the implementation of a balanced scorecard and are preparing for 2009 and fleet expansion. Acquisition of equipment is on the agenda and so is staff recruitment.” In contrast, Dnata’s Tom Lewis has been, in his own words, “massively busy.” He reports a constant growth in all areas (for example, passenger volumes have been up 19% year-on-year), despite inadequate facilities and infrastructure, which will not be rectified until the new terminal and concourse are open at some point in 2008. In keeping with this expansion, his GSE fleet benefited to the tune of US$20m in 2007. “Substantial training programmes are in place for further enhancing the skills of ramp staff in order to achieve greater flexibility and productivity. However, it is becoming more difficult to recruit mid-to-senior positions due to general demand and currency exchange issues.” As for 2008, he foresees more of the same. “Emirates has another 22 aircraft being delivered this coming year: growth will therefore continue and new buildings will be desperately needed.” Mixed fortunes Charles Onukwu, speaking on behalf of Skypower Aviation Handling Company (SAHCOL), reports a mixed year for the African handling company. “In terms of operations, we have fared fairly well within the last 12 months in that some new contracts were won. Some of those contracts include Avient Aviation, SDV Nigeria, the Swiss Aviation Group and Skygate Travel and Tours. It is also important to mention that we lost a significant part of our older contracts at some stations. For our cargo handling operation, we are working hard to improve our client base, and we hope that 2008 will be better as the ongoing construction of our new warehouse will be completed.” SAHCOL made a reasonable level of investment in GSE during the period under review, which involved the purchase of a conventional Douglas pushback, ten conveyor belts and some 50 dollies. Staff training has not been overlooked, either. The handler made some progress in the areas of safety, operations and procedures and DGR. Charles points out that last year’s training was somewhat compromised by a lack of funds. Company policy, along with On MEAG’s shopping list has been a quantity of new GSE.