Correct. Emirates employs over 100,000 staff in planes, food, ground staff and airports for a fleet of about 300 planes – a bit difficult to be certain.
The figure you quote for EgyptAir is certainly not correct but I can’t prove that.
In 2014 Egyptair had 31,000 employees many times the number of the next largest Egyptian airline. It has expanded by 20% since then so company like Emirates which is 5-10 times the size has prorata 50% fewer staff to 1/20th.Its notable that Emirates has always had western management and pretty good management at that whereas Egypt Air doesn't even advertise its jobs and not its Executive jobs - always Egyptian and always with no experience of working with a company that gets it right.
In a peer reviewed statistical survey Journal of Air Transport Management Egyptair was the least efficient airline in Africa where African airlines lagged the world. On this basis there is an argument that Egyptair is the least efficient airline in the world.
http://www.coppead.ufrj.br/upload/publi ... ._2015.pdf
Egypt Air sales force is plagued by high absenteeism and low morale and is deeply dissatisfied with its own management, according to a confidential study commissioned by Hazem Hassan’s research firm.
Employees believe that their management is not committed to high-quality customer service, they do not trust management to keep its word and they doubt their own competence, the study by Hazem Hassan KPMG found.
Their report, obtained by The Business Today magazine shows that the vast majority of employees at Egypt’s Air telephone-based sales centers perceive themselves as under skilled and overworked.
Eighty per cent said they lacked the necessary skills to do the full range of tasks required in their job and ninety-two per cent said their workload was excessive.
https://businessspring.wordpress.com/20 ... egypt-air/ although 2012
I stretched my point too far but my bigger view is based on the vast holdings of airports – many of them in non-places/seasonal places and the numbers of staff there – doing little or nothing. That workforce, with work being an irony, is very large.
My overstatement took into account the several dozen airports in Egypt as follows.
Although its difficult to get clear info from the Egyptian media occasional slips reveal information about the backgrounds of individuals. For example the heads of the Cairo Airport Company is a General as is the head of the Egyptian Company for Airports and probably also the head of the Aeronautical Corporation.
http://cementegypt.com/en/category-ceme ... ounds.html
The airports aim to build hubs but that is bull which ignores how the world actually works and how few real hubs there are and how most are based on international capital cities with 12 months tourism, major conventions and 12 months business traffic.
EypptAir and the Egyptian Holding Corporation for Airports and Air Navigation want to make Cairo an airport hub – it won’t work for at least two reasons. New plane design will mean that airports like Cairo will be leapfrogged by the new long distance planes. Second international operators don’t like stopping in Cairo. At least 6 who used call in have stopped. The reasons include that the fuel quality is poor, the maintenance staff poorly trained, screened and managed and the security amongst the worst in the world. If you are a long distance 5 star carrier with expensive planes and tourists you only stop in Egypt if you have to. Air France stopped its flights in May 2018, and of the remaining ones only about 3 could be said to be safe and world standard, many of them are on the horror list.
Meanwhile the Holding Company is becoming an IT firm and claims that its IT is “the world's leading specialist in Airports Information Management Systems and infrastructure solutions.”
http://www.avit.com.eg/index.php/avit-p ... y-overview. What rot. As if anyone buys its services or products. It can’t even tell the truth because several of its claimed clients for IT either don’t exist or went broke ages ago.
The owner of government owned Egyptian Airports is the statutory Egyptian Holding Company for Airports and Air Navigation. Almost nothing is known about it. Bloomberg which contains information on millions of companies doesn’t know who their Chief Executive or Board are. The corporate intelligence service which specializes in the region, Zawya, knows nothing either. Its Chairman (obtained from local media sources that are far from reliable) is a chap called Mahrous who is conflicted. He controls and regulates airports but appears to be an employee and Board member of EgyptAir. So he is both judge and the accused at the same time. The Minister is the chair of the Holding Company but he was, and probably continues, as chair of EgyptAir. Again poacher as guard.
The Holding Company database has statistics on its activities which defy logic. For example it says passenger movements at Luxor Airport were up year on year by 27% over the same month in 2016. They say Hurghada was up 62%, Sharm by 81%. They say that in November 2016 Luxor had an average of 31 flights per day with each flight having an average of 64 passengers. Is any of this believable?
Egyptian Holding Company for Airports and Air Navigation is not only responsible for the buildings but for security – where it has performed ‘less than well’. It thought it was on top of security and proudly announced, before the troubles, its use of state of the art technology at Hurghada.
https://www.sita.aero/pressroom/news-re ... da-airport It failed.
The New Administrative Capital is to have its own International Airport, (a total of 4 for Cairo that no one travels to) its part of the approved plan, located, wait for it, on pre-existing Wadi al Jandali Airport currently used by the Egyptian Air Force. The President has announced that this new airport will be larger than Heathrow (80 million passengers)
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 20211.html. So Cairo will have three International airports, two only 20ks away from each other and two under the same ‘management’. One is brand new, one is being built from scratch and one has had hundreds of millions recently put into it. Wow.
https://centreforaviation.com/data/prof ... ty-airport. The one that will be larger than Heathrow will make it the largest or second largest in the world and might operate at 10% capacity which would mean billions, possibly tens of billions wasted.
Its just another hysterical announcement to make the locals feel other than broke third world.
Why not build a another one. Poor old New York will just have to survive with two to reflect its feminine inferiority to the resurgent male power of Egypt. To build an airport larger than Heathrow would cost at least $US50 billion which exceeds the whole announced budget for the entire New Administrative Capital – but that is just a small detail. Some say the Capital City budget will exceed $US300 billion but again that is a mere detail. Nothing can be built for that.
Sohag (Formerly Mubarak International Airport city/regional population approx.. 200,000-600,00) was opened in 2010, has no regular international flights, has never had any international flights, has a VIP lounge, 33 buildings, no maintenance for planes, is in the middle of nowhere, has no transport system connecting it with Sohag City which is 35ks away, has parking for 400 cars and 25 buses (which is hardly used), can handle an Airbus320, and claims a substantial volume of traffic with the Middle East – which is a gross exaggeration. Unexpectedly (and unbelievably) official capacity is given as 3.5 million a year so its operating atleast at 1/7th capacity and probably loosing money hand over fist. Probably at 1/60TH capacity
http://www.eac-airports.com/index.php/e ... ports/suhg
Sphinx International Airport – well not really – it’s the commercial redevelopment of the former Cairo West Airbase owned by the Egyptian Military Airforce. It appears in history – the British destroyed it in 1956 and the Jews bombed and destroyed it possibly twice. In all three cases the glorious Egyptian Airforce didn’t get many of its planes into the air which makes you wonder about abilities in their main line of work. Nowadays they want to move on from past achievements and make money and compete with the state owned Cairo International Airport.
Some facts for Sphinx. No public transport links, an underdeveloped adjacent road system, right on top of adjacent gated, socially segregated and possibly fortified housing precinct (an easy exit to the airport if you need to get out of the country quick when things turn bad) at Sheikh Zayed, Palm Hills, Dream Land etc (places populated by a few who might need to get out quick if the population works out what is really going on), a single runway (who ever heard of an international airport with a single runway – sounds more like an airstrip), an immediately co-located Central Security Services Compound (K33) full of people with guns to protect you, hardly any hotels within staggering distance, adjacent population difficult to determine and government stats less than reliable but probably a couple of hundred thousand, over 30ks from Central Cairo,
At least EGP300 million has been spent on it but whose money is not clear. At this budget it sounds a death trap.
The justification for building it is “to ease pressure on Cairo’s main airport.”
http://www.egyptindependent.com/inaugur ... xt-summer/ but the main old airport is only operating at 50% capacity and loosing money and is 60ks in the opposite direction so this argument by the Supreme Shooters is rot. The Ministers other justification is that the “airport will serve tourists to visit the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) and the Great Pyramids of Giza.” – but that is a crazy idea. Who is going to fly into Cairo just to see the Pyramids and Museum and not check into an hotel first – and there are no hotels near this airport.
Cairo international airport used to be under qold standard German management (Fraport), but the German’s left/kicked out in early 2014. The Government of Egypt seems to manage it now.
Cairo International was originally built by the Americans in WW2 – although this is now suppressed information. Maybe in light of recent events it should be burnt down by the Government of Egypt as an example of US/Jewish Imperialism.
Terminal 2 was built in 2006 and Terminal 3 in 2009. There were further renovations, probably decorative and ceremonial, beginning in 2009 to produce an airport tailored to VIP’s by the legion – but I think mainly Egyptian VIP’S. Many private lounges and sitting/drawing rooms decorated in tasteless gilded Louis Farouk furniture have consumed 10’s of millions $. Terminal 2 had to be closed in 2009 (probably because of design flaws) for a $400 million (actually a lot more) 36 month refurbishment (probably a start again bulldozer job) to take 36 months (it took twice as long) to produce an overall capacity of 30 million pa. At the moment its operating at about 50% capacity so its probably loosing money – and big time given the hundreds of millions invested/borrowed.
A fourth terminal, the Seasonal Terminal, was opened in 2011/12. Its precise purpose and cost and who paid for it is completely unclear.
TB 3 at Cairo International, opened in 2009, was designed to expand capacity to 22 million passengers (the World Bank says 26 million capacity), about 50% achieved and more than half funded by the World Bank. TB2 at Cairo International also seems to have been funded by the World Bank.
http://projects.worldbank.org/P101201/c ... b2?lang=en. The November 2016 World Bank evaluation of the 2009 investment shows that the Government has not provided data on passenger movements and processing time and has not, after 7 years, met agreed benchmarks including: ‘reached level B of IATA level of service” That means service was no good – who would be surprised.
http://projects.worldbank.org/P101201/c ... ab=results. Unusually the earlier and larger World Bank investment in the Cairo Airport contains no evaluation on success.
http://projects.worldbank.org/P082914/e ... ab=results. Almost all the details of all the grants to Egypt produce the same response – document not available on cost/effectiviness.
Therefore its clear that Cairo International has been flooded with cheap capital and can’t manage what it has. Needless to say its under government/uniformed management.
About 80% of the retail/duty free shop floor space was ‘given to’ a company with proven poor skills in retail and service – EgyptAir. What EgyptAir knows about shops I’ll leave to you but you would think they should stick to running a loss-making third rate airline – and trying to do it better.
A related ‘wandering off’ move by the Airport Authority were 2013 negotiations with unknown UK based ‘aviation’ firm to build a $US20 billion “Airport City” on 2500 acres near the Cairo International airport. The UK company had no experience in building or property development and no financial weight. The then Minister, Wael el-Maadawy, a former General and deputy head of the Armed Forces and previous head of the Holding Company for Airports, announced the plan as finalized and that similar would soon be done for the Alex and Sinai Airports with hotels restaurants and other vague things promised.
http://www.theafricanaviationtribune.co ... llion.html . The Authority promised that 125,000 jobs would be created according to its then head Essmat
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent ... ion-c.aspx
Nothing happened except diverted time from the screaming need to manage better what was in hand.
ADP the French company used to manage Luxor but they seem to have met a similar fate and kicked out. I think its fair to say that all airports in Egypt have been under uniformed management since 2014 – which is about the time the trouble started. ADP managed Charles de Gaulle at the time of the EgyptAir crash which, given the blame Egypt hurled at the French security, must have involved irony.
http://www.parisaeroport.fr/en/group/gr ... /expertise
Assuit International out in the middle of nowhere 35ks from the city according to the official government website has only 800 passengers a year – hard to believe.
http://www.eac-airports.com/index.php/e ... ut-airport
Marsa Alam also has a new international Airport. Its mainly seasonal traffic so that’s about 4 months of the year. It was also formerly known as Mubarak Airport. Opened in 2003 its privately owned by Kuwaitis and Egyptians of unclear identity. Its located in the middle of nowhere about 60ks north of the town but with a few nearby resorts. It does not seem to be integrated into the local transport system but I guess building an integrated transport system was on no ones mind. It probably takes no more than 1 million passengers a year but the government keeps quiet about mere matters like this.
Like most of the airports the high demand is for a maximum of half the year which would lead sane people to be careful about too much fixed investment – but no in Egypt.
Hurghada International Airport is state owned and has had a lot of new, probably free or cheap aid money from the Arab Development Fund. In 2012 amidst the tourist collapse it spent $US90 million to extend its runways – Orascom got the contract without any prior experience in this field and on a non-competitive bid.
In 2014 not frightened by the collapse of tourism it doubled its capacity even though existing capacity in the good times had not been exceeded. Its capacity is now 13 million a year which is of course very seasonal and there is the continued problem of a high cost fixed asset which is only used occasionally. At least $US350 million was spent at this time.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/busine ... sion-.html. Again there is no integration with local ground transport systems – if indeed any exist. The official figures of the Egyptian government paint a bleaker picture for this and give current usage at 806,000 pa - so current capacity is 15 times usage.
Sharm Internationl – the government claims to own it but a Swiss CompanyABB Equity and SESAM paid $US170 million upfront in 2001 for a 25 year concession (the meaning of which is unclear). A new terminal was opened in 2007and runway to handle 7 million.
http://www.airport-technology.com/proje ... l-airport/. I guess the deal fell apart but the compensation to the Swiss has never been revealed but must have been huge. At the moment the government claims to be the operator – but who knows. As with the others its out in the middle of nowhere, 25ks from the town, not connected to any transport system.
The ownership of the Swiss company is not clear but that country was the location of all the dirty Egyptian money under Mubarak.
Recent investment of approx.. $US500 million will increase capacity to more than 18 million (a little smaller than Dulles International at Washington DC) although there seems to be new debt of at least $US170 million for very strange and vague purposes:
https://dailynewsegypt.com/2015/03/18/a ... -chairman/ but its hard to get a general picture because there is no public plan, just impulsive ad hoc deals, and the Holding Company issues no annual report. The Egyptian Government website says that current usage is 870,000 so planned expansion will be 20 times current demand.
http://www.eac-airports.com/index.php/e ... kh-airport. What type of rational thinking is that.
To be continued because I have too much evidence/footnotes to fit in one post.
