Al-Ahram Weekly | Egypt | Past and present

		27 June - 3 July 2002 Issue No. 592 Home news	Current issue Previous issue Site map
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Past and present
EgyptAir's former chairman has rejected allegations that his 22-year-old management damaged the airline, even as moves to change old policies are put into effect. Amira Ibrahim reports

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Rayan receiving the Order of the Nile from President Mubarak

Fahim Rayan, EgyptAir's former chairman, defended the policies of his 22-year management of the airline, telling reporters at a press conference on Monday that EgyptAir was better off today than when he took office in 1979.
"EgyptAir has faced many difficulties like many other international carriers. [But] EgyptAir continued operating after 11 September while other international airlines collapsed," he said.
The company has a solid financial status, he said, which has enabled it to overcome the economic crisis which hit the air transport industry worldwide.
Criticism of Rayan and EgyptAir have mounted over the past few years following two plane crashes. In 1999 a Boeing 767 plunged with 217 people aboard into the Atlantic and, on 7 May, a Boeing 737 crashed into a Tunisian hillside killing 14 people.
Speaking of his achievements, Rayan said: "In 1979, I was entrusted with rebuilding the airline. The company did not have an infrastructure and it only had 14 planes. It faced serious shortages in ground, air and maintenance services," he said. "The company's assets were estimated in 1980 at LE315 million. As I leave the company, EgyptAir's assets are estimated at LE10.3 billion. The company, moreover, has a fleet of 35 modern planes."
Rayan said that EgyptAir did not receive government funding but relied on its own resources. Funds for modernising the fleet since 1980 had come from international institutions which provided $1.992 billion in loans. This had covered 65 per cent of the total cost. The company's resources had provided the remaining 35 per cent.
"Up to this year, we have paid back $1.447 billion of the loans in addition to $618 million in interest. The remainder will be paid by 2013," he said.
Last week, Civil Aviation Minister Ahmed Shafiq announced that Rayan would be replaced by Abdel-Fattah Kato, head of the newly formed Holding Company for Civil Aviation.
Kato will become the acting chairman of the new EgyptAir holding company on 1 July.
Earlier, the cabinet had approved a draft law turning EgyptAir into six affiliated companies, breaking up the company's concerns for airlines, air services, ground services, maintenance, air cargo, tourism and duty free shops into separate entities.
The former chairman, who had previously resisted privatisation, said that he had not opposed transforming the national carrier into a holding company.
"In April 2000, we agreed with an American company to apply a comprehensive development plan for all EgyptAir's activities as a step towards change," he said. "A few days after the 7 May crash in Tunis, we decided to carry on with the development plans and I informed the aviation minister of the move."
On Monday, President Mubarak awarded Rayan the Order of the Nile, the state's highest honour. "It is an honour and proof that I have done a good job with the company, despite all the false allegations against me," Rayan said.
Rayan is scheduled to step down on 1 July. Shafiq, however, has already started to change old policies. The civil aviation minister decided to permit private and Arab airlines to operate charter flights directly from Arab airports to all Egyptian airports. Cairo International Airport is excluded from the new measures. According to Magdeddin Rifaat, the Civil Aviation's general- secretary, private airlines can get all the services they need at Egyptian airports. "There won't be any restrictions on Arab charter flights," Rifaat said. The measure is seen as a start to open Egyptian airports to foreign charter flights.
In a recent move to improve the aviation sector, a presidential decree was issued on Saturday to convert Cairo International Airport Authority (CIAA) into a holding company.
The next day, Shafiq appointed a new chairman for Cairo airport and the new administration will be formed by a Cabinet decree. A change in Cairo airport's management has been widely predicted following the changes at EgyptAir.

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