Zamalek ends red reign

It took three years of trying but at last Zamalek put Ahli in the shade in Egypt's famed football derby. Nashwa Abdel-Tawwab reports on how the rare feat was accomplished

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Sharm El-Sheikh's new terminal (above); during construction and adding the final touches (below); An illustration of the airport

If you are planning a diving trip or a desert safari, perhaps a Bedouin gala dinner, Sharm El-Sheikh is likely to be your city of choice. But for the trip to be a happy experience requires smooth access to the city, something that was promised by the new Red Sea and Sinai gateway, the second terminal of which -- expanding the airport's capacity from four million to seven million passengers per annum -- is to be inaugurated by President Hosni Mubarak today. Ending the daily suffering of an extra million passengers passing through the terminal every year, according to Ibrahim Mannaa, chairman of the Holding Company for Airports and Air Navigation, "the new airport meets the estimates concerning the growth of movement until 2010, but if the rate of growth goes up to 20 per cent, then we should be preparing for another terminal by 2009." The $70 budget loan that financed the project is part of a $350 million World Bank (WB) loan towards building a new terminal in Cairo International Airport: "this is the first time ever that the WB has provided funding for aviation projects anywhere in the world, which reflects its confidence in Egypt's aviation policy." The WB supervised consulting, design and constructions, all done through international tenders. Beginning in February 2005, the project was to be completed by June 2006; construction work was suspended repeatedly for security reasons during political meetings and international summits taking place increasingly in Sharm El-Sheikh, "a second capital", which caused the 10-month delay. According to Yehia Bin Laden, the executive manager of Bin Laden group, which won the $66.6 million contract to construct the new terminal after completing 26 airports worldwide, "the delay was not our fault and the Egyptian side showed understanding."

For his part, Aviation Minister Ahmed Shafiq believes both the magnitude of the work and the level of performance it will yield is unprecedented in Egypt's civil aviation history: "we are proud to be having such landmark in Sinai. The giant concrete walls look amazing, with that slightly acute angle making them look like a ship at sea. The contractor has done an excellent job." Indeed Bin Laden describes the new building as unique, due to the techniques used in its tent-like design: "the two circular main halls are covered in stretched PTFE -- a material with proven durability that enables long spans in an individual design while ensuring maximum functionality." But it is the design that stands out: "we chose a design reflecting the beauty of nature in Sinai and the Red Sea, but one that also conveys the openness and hospitality of the Bedouin, giving it architectural form." The designers, Dar Aviation -- part of Dar Al-Handasah, the regional branch of the Dar Group -- were surprised by the ministry's choice of design. According to executive manager Yehia Zaki, "we worked on two different design. One was more bizarre, and we didn't expect the officials in charge to pick it." Functionality is coupled with lines reflecting the distinctive topography of the area, with the dramatic, mountain-studded horizon. "The terminal," says Zaki, "can be spotted from a distance by its skin. On closer inspection there is both contrast and harmony. The ceilings of arrivals evoke animal skeletons, with their trusses; those of departures -- the suction cups on invertebrate tentacles, with their bulging skylights." The roofs billow and heave, evoking the tents of the Bedouin, while their bright marine shades "are suggestive of over 1,000 species of fish found in Ras Mohamed National Park". Lighting is equally thoughtful. Exterior roofing allows much light in, welcoming people into the sunny charm of Sharm El-Sheikh, while at night signal lights emanating from within the building light up the sky as well as performing their function. Nor do the benefits of the new terminal, to be named TB1, stop at aesthetic functionality. Cutting-edge features also extend to a number of very significant factors.

TB1 is equipped with top-of-the-line security facilities, down to EDS X-ray scan baggage inspection and centres for control crisis management in direct communication with the aviation authority in Cairo. As Magdeddin Rifaat, head of the Egyptian Airport Company, which supervises all but the Cairo airport, says, "the old terminal will be subject to extensive renovation and upgrading so that passengers can have the same service standards in both." Services will accordingly be redistributed, with duty-free and airline offices moving to TB1; the Swiss duty- free company, Dufry, which operates in over 100 airports worldwide, is the latest to join in the fray: "there is also a smoking lounge to help overcome smokers' tendency to find a spot within the no-smoking terminal -- if the scheme works it will be replicated in all other airports." The French company Aeroport de Paris (ADP), which manages four of Egypt's airports, will take on the task of facilitating movement between the two terminals. ADP Executive Manager David Patrice explained that, since 95 per cent of the passengers are on charter flights and can distinguish neither airline nor operator, a system of signs -- to be changed every season -- will guide people by nationality, with ADP receiving charter airline schedules six months in advance and working closely with tour operators. Patrice gave the figures for the season by way of examples: Russians top the number, taking over from French; British numbers have gone up from 10 to 20 per cent." Other airports have been encouraged to raise the number of flights to Sharm El-Sheikh, with the national carrier doubling its traffic as of 1 June; while with six new EmbraAir small jets, EgyptAir Express, the new sister airline established exclusively for domestic flights, has chosen to start, in the words of its chairman, Mohamed Hassan, "with the golden route, Cairo-Sharm El-Sheikh, to benefit from the newly upgraded terminal". The company, it is expected, will work hard to meet the rising demand for flights to and from the Red Sea, starting with seven daily flights to Sharm El-Sheikh, aiming for a flight every two hours, and five daily flights to Hurghada as of 9 June.

The expansion has had other lucrative results, too. According to Airport Manager Yussri Gamal, "we received more than 10 requests from European and Arab airlines to operate new routes through our airport. For the first time, moreover, a new airline was established with headquarters away from the capital." He refers to Koralblue, an airline specialised in chartered flights between Egypt and Europe -- a joint venture of the Egyptian Orascom and the Tunisian Karthago groups. "We expect the new terminal to boost tourism," says Koralblue CEO Souheil Boulahia. "A major marketing ploy for tour operators is easy access to the destination they offer in their programmes, which includes visa legislation, taxes and services provided on arrival and departure." Airports have acted as tourist attractions in Gulf countries, something Boulahia hopes to emulate in Sharm El-Sheikh. Koralblue launched its services two months ago from Sharm El-Sheikh to Katowice and Warsaw airports as well as some other European airports including Paris Charles de Gaulle. But the happiest beneficiaries are the residents of South Sinai, who enthuse about whatever will boost the governorate's development. As Hani Metwalli, governor of South Sinai, told Al-Ahram Weekly, "the project certainly makes more room for investments in the area, and the peninsula as a whole, where development plans aim at settling half a million people, which will attract more investments in turn. To have one or two gateways would certainly help with development, since tourism is the number-one economic activity in Sinai." The plan as Metwalli delineates it involves incorporating elements of the community, both Bedouin and Nile Valley immigrants.

And Metwalli is right. Bedouin taxi drivers who work within the airport zone recognised their style of accommodation in the building's design.

THE 43,000 sq m facility will initially handle three million passengers annually with a daily peak capacity of 2,500 passengers. The terminal comprises three building components: two circular- shaped halls, fused together by a third, intermediate space that will serve as the transit hub. The terminal features 40 check-in counters, seven departure gates and a VIP arrival and a departure gate on the first level. It also houses passport control on the ground floor, and public areas with duty-free concessions, cafés and a restaurant. The second level is dedicated to food lounges with views of the Sinai Mountains and the Red Sea. The area accommodates a mosque, sewage treatment plant, a car park that takes 100 buses and 250 cars. The airport provides for environmental protection measures, including solid waste disposal and noise abatement. Under construction are a four-kilometre runway and a new LE50 million tarmac space, which will help increase the airport's capacity from 33 to 48 planes, so that the airport could host large planes, including the A380.