Egyptian budget airline expects end-of-year launch

A new budget airline formed by Egyptian Travco Group and the United Arab Emirates' Air Arabia hopes to begin operating by the end of 2009 from as many as five Egyptian airports, the head of Travco said. The airline, Air Arabia Egypt, will seek Egyptian government permission to use airports at Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor, Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh to fly to European, Middle Eastern and north African destinations.
"We intend to submit our plan in the next weeks, and depending on the approvals we get we will decide on the operation and conditions of operation," chairman and chief executive Hamed El Chiaty told Reuters in an interview. Travco, Egypt's biggest tourism company, owns 50 percent of the airline, Air Arabia 40 percent and an independent Egyptian investor 10 percent, Chiaty said. Its initial capital is $20 million, increasing to $50 million over the next three years. The airline will lease aircraft from Air Arabia or other sources, Chiaty said.