General Manager, EgyptAir, Mr. Khaled El Rafie
EgyptAir recently held an Award Dinner for its travel agents and partners to mark its 80 years anniversary.
EgyptAir is the first carrier to be established in Africa and the Middle East and the seventh in the world having been set up on May 7, 1932.
And for the first time ever, the award dinner was combined for Travel Agents from Kano, Abuja and Lagos.
General Manager, EgyptAir, Mr. Khaled El Rafie, stated in his opening remarks that EgyptAir had made a lot of progress especially in the last one year, having had to reduce its frequencies out of Lagos from five to two flights weekly in the wake of the civil unrest in Egypt early last year.
He however noted that the airline had steadily recovered from the impact of the uprising and its services have equally grown from two flights to a current five out of Lagos; six out of Abuja and five flights out of Kano.
He also revealed that the carrier had also been able to improve its relationship with travel agents by signing up more of them onto its Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP) platform by adding 75 new agents presently. “And by the end of 2012, we hope to grow that number even further by adding more travel agents,” he declared.
A total of 10 top travel agents were given award certificates for their brilliant performances in sales of the carrier’s tickets in the last fiscal year.
They included: God’s Power Travels; Aeroland Travels; Good News Travels and Satguru Travels all from Lagos. Others are Massarah Nigeria Limited and Batijay Travels both in Abuja. Yet others are Arafat Air Services; Silver Wings Travels; World Travel & Tours; as well as Classique Air Services all from Kano.
Expressing gratitude to the agents for their support over the years, Khaled noted: “We realise how important you are to our success that is why we have gathered all of you here tonight to offer you a taste of tourism and business in Egypt as we also use the opportunity to celebrate 80 years of success as an airline, and you all are a part of that success.”
General Manager, EgyptAir, Abuja, Mr. Muharam Abdulrahman, was on hand to lend his support to the occasion and described the forum as a rallying point to rub minds with travel agents. The event also served as a veritable opportunity for the Station Manager in Lagos, Mr. Tarek Shams, to inform agents on some of the challenges their customers experience at the airport due to lack of proper information.
As a way of showing gratitude in the spirit of the celebrations, there was a raffle draw for a free Economy class ticket to any destination on the airline’s network which was won by a staff of Zodiac Travels.
Sharing in the celebrations, Mr. George Uriesi, Managing Director, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) congratulated EgyptAir for its success and the efforts it has made to support travel agents.
He also commented on the current airport remodelling project across the country and promised that, by the time it was completed, EgyptAir, and indeed other carriers, will have better services at the nation’s airports.
Mr. Abdelfatah Elwekil of Karnak, EgyptAir’s Tourism Company used the forum to showcase the many tourist sites in Egypt expressing why it is a preferred destination as well as holiday packages which visitors could take advantage of.
These include Sharm El Sheik, one of Egypt’s most celebrated destinations with pristine beaches and spectacular seaside views; World Class Golfing venues; rich historical sites of ancient civilisation as well as a Dinner Cruise on the world renowned River Nile.