Budget airline launching in Cairo

Saturday 26 September 2009 - 02:52 PM

By Andrew Bossone

During tough times in the travel and tourism business a new low-cost airline is launching in Cairo.

The Sharjah-based Air Arabia and the Egyptian hospitality company Travco Group International recently announced a partnership to form Air Arabia Egypt for budget flights in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

"The low-cost model, which will be used in operating Air Arabia Egypt, is uniquely attractive in these challenging economic times. When travel budgets are low and travel is a must, travelers prefer value-for-money options," said Sara Salib, the director of marketing and public relations for Travco, in an email to Al-Masry Al-Youm.

Profits in the worldwide commercial airline business have declined sharply in the last two years. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) predicts the global industry will lose US $11 billion in 2009. Commercial airlines lost $16.8 billion in 2008, a drop of $29.7 billion from the previous year.

"Reported losses have already exceeded $6 billion in the first half of this year," said an IATA report released this month. "Although the beginnings of an economic upturn are now visible…yields are much weaker than anticipated and oil prices higher. These last two factors are more than offsetting better economic growth."

Airlines in the Middle East, however, have suffered less than other regions, the report says. Although commercial airlines the Middle East are generally smaller than counterparts in North America and Europe, for example, carriers in the region are gaining a greater market share of international flights. It is also the only region in the world that had higher year-on-year passenger traffic in 2009.

And there's evidence that a low-cost model can be successful. Air Arabia's net profits for the first half of 2009 are up by 21 percent from the same period last year to $52.6 million, according to a report by AFP.

“At a time when the global aviation industry is witnessing serious challenges as a consequence of the worldwide financial crisis, we continue to move forward with our strategic expansion strategy, as demonstrated by this important announcement," said Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Al Thani, chairman of Air Arabia, in a press release.

The low-cost carrier model has worked in Europe and the United States, and even been recession proof. The Irish carrier Ryan Air has increased its number of passengers for every month year-on-year since January 2007. The American carrier Southwest Airlines earned a profit for 71 consecutive quarters until the beginning of 2009–and rebounded in the second quarter.

Figures for EgyptAir Express, the national carrier's low cost airline, are not available on the company's website beyond June 2008. Similarly, tourist figures are not available past the same time period on the Egyptian Central Bank's website, the official place the Ministry of Tourism publishes statistics.

The numbers for the first four months of 2009 show a 13.2 percent drop in the number of tourist nights compared to the same period in 2008, while the number of tourist arrivals during the same period has declined 10.3 percent to 3.67 million arrivals.

The tourism industry is going through some rough times, thanks to the global financial crisis. The Ministry of Tourism had released figures for the first four months of the current year, showing a 13.2 per cent drop in tourist nights and a 10.3 per cent decrease in tourist arrivals compared to the same period last year. A report released this month by the Center for Trade Unions and Workers Services also stated that the tourism sector is the highest in terms of layoffs this year. If anything, the timing is right to take advantage of tighter travel budgets and Egypt as an affordable destination. In addition to Air Arabia's experience as a low-cost airline, the new group will benefit from the economy of scale in an end-to-end hospitality group like Travco.

"Controlling all aspects of the tourism value chain also allows operating efficiencies and cost savings," Salib said. "Being the only fully integrated powerhouse in Egypt and the region only increases Travco's competitive advantage."

Air Arabia will have a 40 percent stake in the new venture and will handle the day-to-day operations, serving on a joint board with Travco, which owns 50 percent. Travco declined to name the independent Egyptian investor who owns the remaining ten percent. Air Arabia, which flies to 57 destinations east of the Atlantic Ocean, launched its second hub in Casablanca this year to compliment operations in Dubai. The company has not announced when flights will commence from Cairo.

http://www.almasryonline.com/portal/page/portal/MasryPortal/ARTICLE_EN?itId=UG122437&pId=UG14&pType=1&channelId=ECE

Hands of Clay

Hands of clay

Thursday 17 September 2009 - 03:32 PM

By Andrew Bossone

Between worn, brick walls and beneath thatched, wooden roofs, ceramics makers in Old Cairo create pottery just as the ancient Egyptians did. Clay blocks still come from Aswan, where the pharaohs extracted minerals for tombs, monuments and crafts. The pottery is still handmade, formed on a workshop assembly line and then cooked in a kiln, but some things change with time.

"It's the same system that the pharaohs used. Only now the market demand is different," said Ibrahim Qurani, 46, a pottery maker since he was ten years old.

Under the threat of foreign imports and a slumping global economy, this old craft could crumble like the clay powder from which it originates. Despite an uncertain future, work continues.

Construction by the Egyptian government, with support from the United Nations and the Italian government, has been ongoing for several years to create a new village of workshops and homes for local craftsmen and their families.

In addition to improved working and living conditions in new buildings, the area could also benefit from increased exposure to tourists. The construction is taking place in a small valley known as Butn el-Baqara and Sha' el-Taa'ban, or the "Belly of the Cow" and "Crack of the Snake," respectively, up the road from Egypt's oldest mosque and most famous churches and synagogue.

Although local artisans look forward to moving, they are beginning to wonder when it will happen. Locals told Al-Masry Al-Youm they expect the government to demolish their current buildings following Eid after Ramadan. They are concerned the new buildings will not be finished on time.

"Every revolution has its victims," Qurani said. "The government has a vision to turn all of this into Fatimid-style buildings with domes."

If they are forced to close shop without a new location, they said they would have to look for work elsewhere, in similar workshops in Cairo and Fayoum, or make ends meet as taxi drivers.

The office of the Cairo Governorate told Al-Masry Al-Youm it had no knowledge of plans to move ceramics workers after the Eid, but said that marble workers might join the new village soon. The village has about 30 functioning workshops, according to local sources.

As they wait for their next move, the artisans keep churning out rows of vases, water fountains, tables in the shapes of animals and wall lamps, or ableek, as they always have. But they are concerned about change, even if it could be for the better.

Workers in the ceramic industry make between LE 15 and LE 50 per week depending on their skill level. A young child who carries objects or makes tea and coffee earns a weekly wage of about LE 15, while an experienced pottery maker earns more based on output. A skilled pottery maker in Scotland makes more than 400 British pounds per week, or about 75 times their Egyptian counterparts, according to a Scottish government website.

Egyptian ceramics makers begin at a young age. Qurani said children learn the trade more easily, as he praised a 17-year-old who started working when he was ten, just as Qurani did. "There is a good relationship between him and the cast. He loves it," Qurani said.

Despite an artistic sense cultivated for thousands of years, Egyptian ceramics makers say their trade is increasingly forced to compete with imports. "It's not hard work for the importers," said Mamdouh Abu Islam, who owns a ceramics shop. "Here, the owner works [in the workshop] just like my brother does. He pays the workers, whether they're family or not and he sells the objects."

Samy Fattah, a ceramics importer and wholesaler, says business has suffered this year in sectors related to gifts and home decorations because of the ailing international economy, making competition more difficult. Fattah sells most of his items to tourist bazaars, so declining tourism numbers and tighter wallets have hurt his business. Although he will not complete his accounting books until the end of 2009, he expects sales will have declined this year by more than 30 per cent.

"You can easily feel there is a problem all around the world," said Fattah, who travels to several countries each year for his company Eximport.

Egyptian ceramic imports usually come from China, Morocco and Palestine. Chinese factories tend to produce cooking bowls common to Egyptian kitchens, while the Palestinian and Moroccan ceramics include artisan dishes and vases.

"People love the handmade objects," said Hassan Fouad, who has sold hand painted plates from Palestine in Khan el-Khalili for seven years. "The foreigners like it more than Arabs, and they pay."

These types of ceramic dishes, which are white and painted with multi-colored patterns, became so successful with tourists that another shop in Khan el-Khalili called Mizar El Fishawy opened its own factory in Fayoum two years ago. The quality of the dishes equals their Palestinian counterparts, but sells for around LE 45 less per piece, around LE 90 for a bowl, for example. The shop also has more variety because it took patterns from the Internet rather than relying only on traditional styles.

Unlike dishware, Fustat pottery is typically large and heavy. The smaller objects include unique figurines of houses from the countryside or people dressed as traditional fruit sellers or musicians. Although the Fustat artisans are masters at forming pottery with their hands, the final step of painting sometimes needs improvement. The workshops occasionally partner with artists to create an improved finished product. The Egyptian government has also supported recent university graduates of arts faculties with their own village near the Fustat workshops.

"The artist brings his own vision and it's like he has engineers working for him," Qurani said. "Since the worker has an artistic sense, it's easy to meet the demands of the artist."

The Fatimid Dynasty established its administrative and economic capital in Fustat in the 10th century, developing art and architecture that remain today. If history is any indicator of the future, ceramics workers might have a revival. As Egypt has been conquered and rebuilt many times for 7,000 years, ceramics survived through all of it.

http://www.almasryonline.com/portal/page/portal/MasryPortal/ARTICLE_EN?itId=UG119997&pId=UG14&pType=1

Giant Fortress's Remains Found in Egypt

Giant Fortress's Remains Found in Egypt


In late May 2008 archaeologists announced the discovery of new artifacts from the giant fortress Tharu, including the relief seen above.

The fort, located in the Sinai Peninsula near modern-day Gaza, helped protect the eastern borders of ancient Egypt for a thousand years.

Photograph courtesy Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities

Andrew Bossone in Cairo
for National Geographic News

June 2, 2008

Archaeologists have uncovered more remnants from Tharu, the largest known fortified city in ancient Egypt, which sits near the modern-day border town of Rafah.

The fortress, also known as Tjaru or Tharo, covered about 31 acres (13 hectares), Egyptian authorities say. Its discovery near the Suez Canal was announced in July 2007.

Tharu helped guard the empire's eastern front in the Sinai Peninsula and served as a military cornerstone for Egypt's ancient leaders.

"It was built [more than] 3,000 years ago, and it was an important and strategic point," said Mohamed Abdel-Maqsoud, of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities.

The fort's remains were found as part of a project that began in 1986 to explore the "Horus Way," an ancient military road that connected 11 fortresses linking Egypt and Palestine.

The path also served as an entry point for traders coming from Asia.

"This is the only way to enter Egypt by land coming from the east," said Fayza Haikal, a professor of archaeology and Egyptology at the American University in Cairo. "It was the way not only for armies but also commercial [expeditions]."

So far Egyptian authorities have discovered four fortresses along the Horus Way, which essentially formed the same line as Egypt's current eastern border (see map).

Home of Kings

Among the ruins, archaeologists uncovered reliefs depicting several pharaohs—including Thutmose II, who reigned from 1492 to 1479 B.C.; Seti I, who ruled from 1294 to 1279 B.C.; and Ramses II, ruler from 1279 to 1213 B.C.

This indicates that the fort was one of the most important locations in ancient Egypt.

"All of the kings arrived here," Abdel-Maqsoud said. "The inscriptions we found explain this."

The Thutmose relief is thought to be the first such royal monument to be found in Sinai, suggesting that he may have built a fort in the area, according to Egyptian officials. Earlier studies suggest that Seti I built Tharu in the area of Thutmose's original fort. That is a common occurrence in Sinai, where buildings from many eras can be found stacked atop each other, the American University's Haikal said.

(Related: "Egypt's Earliest Farming Village Found" [February 12, 2008].)

Tharu subsequently served as the headquarters for Egypt's vast military empires.

The fort lasted for at least a thousand years after Seti's death, including periods of rule by the Greeks and Romans.

Double Fortification

Tharu stood for a millennium mostly for one reason: its size. Its walls stretched 1,640 feet (500 meters) long and 820 feet (250 meters) wide.

"A fortification like that, with the Nile also—it must have been very difficult to attack Egypt," Abdel-Maqsoud said.

Tharu's walls were lined with towers 66 feet (20 meters) wide and 13 feet (4 meters) tall that overlooked the east bank of a now desiccated tributary of the Nile.

Sketches of Tharu from the north outside wall of the Hypostyle Hall at Karnak indicate the fort may even have included a moat filled with crocodiles.

In addition to its own troops, weapons, and horses, Tharu may have supplied all the troops following the Horus Way with food and water.

Archaeologists discovered rows of large granaries that had their own extra fortifications, just in case enemies breached the exterior defenses.

Tharu's reputation for defense eventually earned it a new name, Hedwa, which means "to walk on the ground while looking in every direction."

"The Egyptians were never defeated here," Abdel-Maqsoud said.

"If you want to pass through this area you must hide yourself," he added. "You must walk on your hands and knees."

© 1996-2008 National Geographic Society. All rights reserved.

Ancient Egyptian Temple Entrance Found in Nile River

Ancient Egyptian Temple Entrance Found in Nile River

Andrew Bossone in Cairo, Egypt
for National Geographic News

May 27, 2008

Archaeologists have discovered a portico, or covered entryway, of an ancient Egyptian temple beneath the surface of the Nile River.

The entryway once led to the temple of the ram-headed fertility god Khnum, experts say.

A team of Egyptian archaeologist-divers found the portico in Aswan while conducting the first-ever underwater surveys of the Nile, which began earlier this year.

"The Nile has shifted, and this part of the temple began to be a part of [the river]," said Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities.

(Hawass is also a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence. The National Geographic Society owns National Geographic News.)

Today's Nile obscures many objects from ancient times, and archaeologists believe the underwater excavations will reveal other significant artifacts.

Surviving Time

The massive portico is too large to be removed during the current excavation, but archaeologists removed a one-ton stone with inscriptions that could date from the 22nd dynasty (945-712 B.C.) to 26th dynasty (664-525 B.C.).

The stone itself could be much older, however, because like many objects throughout Egyptian history, the original materials of the Temple of Khnum were reused to construct newer buildings.

A stone found in the Nile River bears inscriptions that could shed light on features surrounding the ancient Temple of Khnum. The stone was found near the recently discovered portico of the temple and could date from the 22nd dynasty (945-712 B.C.) to 26th dynasty (664-525 B.C.).

Photograph courtesy Supreme Council of Antiquities

"In a town that was continuously inhabited, of course [older buildings] were always demolished," said Cornelius von Pilgrim, director of the Swiss Institute of Architectural and Archaeological Research on Ancient Egypt.

"While doing this [demolition], all the architectural elements, all the stones, were used in new houses, new buildings."

The temple of Khnum was first erected in the 12th dynasty (1985-1773 B.C.) or 13th dynasty (1773-1650 B.C.) and was later rebuilt and expanded under subsequent regimes, including by the "female pharaoh" Hatshepsut (1473-1458 B.C.)

Two large columns and more stones of the temple will be removed from the river when excavations resume later this year.

The stones found around the portico of the temple, like the one already taken out of the water, often have inscriptions that describe ancient times.

These inscriptions could contain a precise date of the construction of a nearby feature known as the Nilometer, a basin that ancient officials used to measure seasonal floods and thereby determine taxes.

"In the Nilometer one could see how high the flood was," von Pilgrim said. "And depending on the height of the flood, one could predict how good the harvest would be. And based on this they fixed the taxation."

Khnum's temple was located at a religious, political, military, commercial, and mining center of ancient Egypt, von Pilgrim added.

"This was an enormously important building. It had a major importance for the whole country," he said.

Beneath the Surface

Plans are underway to conduct a complete survey of the Nile from Aswan to Luxor starting in September (see Egypt map).

In continued underwater surveys Egyptian archaeologists expect to find more antiquities in the Nile, not only because of waters that rose throughout the centuries, but also because of accidents and natural disasters that caused objects to fall underwater.

Parts of an ancient Christian church were discovered during this excavation across from Khnum beneath the east bank of the Nile, the team reported.

The archaeologists also believe shipping accidents could have been common given the high volume of traffic in Aswan's harbor. Aswan was a bustling port for the sandstone and the red and black granite quarries that supplied the ancient world with building materials.

In other places in the Nile, excavators such as the 19th-century French archaeologist Auguste Mariette, lost important archaeological objects in the water as they were being shipped to Europe from sites up and down the Nile.

"Auguste Mariette moved obelisks from Dar Abu Naga in Luxor," Hawass said.

"There were two obelisks that were drowned 10 meters (32 feet) opposite the Temple of Karnak. And that is [only] what is known."

© 1996-2008 National Geographic Society. All rights reserved.

Discovery Channel wrong about Egypt visitor center

The Discovery Channel recently wrote a story that a new visitor center in Luxor in the Valley of the Kings will in April saying "A new visitor center opening later this month will feature a large plastic model of the valley, showing the location of each of its 63 tombs. Computers and large visual displays will also be available."

Actually the visitor center has been open for weeks. I was there at least three weeks ago. They are completely wrong and it seems they did not verify their facts.