THE Chief Executive Board of Star Alliance has voted to accept EgyptAir as a future member, following successful talks.
The national airline of Egypt has in the last five years has undergone a significant transformation process and is now one of the foremost carriers in Africa and the Middle East. It will become a full Star Alliance member carrier within the next 18 months.
“Egypt is one of the most important aviation markets in Africa, with a large potential for both business and leisure travel. We are proud that EgyptAir, a world class airline, has chosen to join Star Alliance, thereby recognising the importance of alliances in aviation today,“ said Jaan Albrecht, CEO Star Alliance.
“EgyptAir provides an ideal network fit for Star Alliance and will permit many more passengers to experience the alliance’s customer benefits especially in markets in which Star Alliance was up to now under represented,“ he added.
Engineer Atef Abdel Hamid, chairman and CEO, EgyptAir Holding Company, said Egypt was strategically located to link Africa, the Middle East and Europe to the rest of the world.
“By joining Star Alliance, EgyptAir will offer its customers a wide variety of benefits such as a diversity of destinations, frequency of existing destinations, a wide choice of convenient fares across the globe, frequent flyer advantages on all Star Alliance member carriers and the great facilities the passengers will enjoy at major airports through the Move Under one Roof concept,“ he said.
In order to implement the Star Alliance ’Move under one Roof’ concept at Cairo Airport, EgyptAir and the Star Alliance member carriers flying to Cairo will move to the new Terminal 3 once it opens in 2008. Talks to this effect are already underway with the airport authorities in order to ensure the creation of another hub with an optimal customer experience.
EgyptAir will add nine additional unique airports into the Star Alliance network, bringing the overall total to more than 17,700 daily flights serving 944 destinations in 161 countries.