EgyptAir: Transit passengers decreased by 50 %

CAIRO – 8 March 2017: The combination of November’s flotation of the Egyptian pound and a 50 percent drop in the total number of transit passengers through Egypt since 2010 caused a 15 percent decrease in the number of dollars in EgyptAir, Safwat Mesallam, chairman of the EgyptAir holding company,

told Al-Ahram

.

Mesallam said Umra season this year has exceptional conditions after a pause that negatively affected the company and caused nearly one billion EGP in losses. The company depends on Umra, as well as Hajj season, to enhance its revenues, he added.

The company offered economy prices for Umra in addition to normal prices to benefit Umra travelers despite high operating costs and the impact of the flotation on ticket prices - more than 70 percent of its deals are in dollars, Mesallam said.

Umra, considered the ‘lesser’ pilgrimage, is an Islamic rite which can be performed at any time of the year to the Islamic holy places in Mecca (K.S.A). Hajj, on the other hand, is performed annually at a specific time, in the last month of the Islamic calendar, Dhul-Hijjah.