REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, CAIRO -- Egypt plans to increase the flight frequency of EgyptAir on the Jakarta-Cairo route to four times a week in 2018, Minister of Civil Aviation of Egypt Fathy Sherif Attia stated.
"EgyptAir's flight frequency to Jakarta will be increased in 2018 or 2019 once we get additional aircraft," he informed an Indonesian reporter while participating in the Media Visits Program in Cairo on Monday (April 18).
According to Attia, Egypt warmly welcomes Indonesians travelling for Umrah and Hajj to Saudi Arabia by EgyptAir and anticipates a growth in the number of Indonesian tourists visiting Egypt in future.
Currently, the national flag carrier of Egypt operates round-trip flights on the Jakarta-Bangkok-Cairo route twice a week, on Thursday and Sunday, using an Airbus 330-300 aircraft.
In a bid to boost the Egyptian tourism industry, the ministry is supporting EgyptAir and is encouraging airline operators from other countries to serve flights to Egypt, he revealed.
Attia said the ministry had applied the Open Sky policy across 21 airports, except in the Cairo International Airport, which is managed through a bilateral agreement.
He remarked that the ministry will add 85 new aircraft in the next five years, but he could not reveal details on which one would be selected to reinforce the new fleet of the national carrier of Egypt.
"For sure, we need small- and wide-bodied aircraft, including those with a seating capacity of 270," he noted.
Attia remarked that the threat of terrorism was the main challenge for Egypt's civil aviation sector, following the crash of a Russian civilian aircraft in the Sinai Peninsula last year.
However, the minister asserted that aviation security in the country was much better than what was often described by the foreign media following the incident last year.
After the incident, which Head of the Russian Federal Security Service Alexander Bortnikov believes was an act of terror, Egypt is cooperating with several parties to strengthen standard operating procedures to improve security at airports in the country, he affirmed.
"In fact, the standard operating procedures with regard to security applied at airports in Egypt are much more stringent compared to those implemented in other international airports," Attia pointed out.
He stated that the ministry had implemented the body scanning procedure after passengers crossed the metal detectors without causing any inconvenience.
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