EgyptAir, Africa’s first airline and second international carrier to fly into Nigeria, recently took delivery of its first B787 Dreamliner Aircraft.
The ultramodern aircraft fitted with state-of-the-art features and facilities were deployed on the Cairo- Lagos route and recently made its maiden flight into Lagos with pomp and ceremony.
The arrival was welcomed by high-profile guests and dignitaries from the diplomatic corps, senior airline management staff, industry practitioners, and distinguished guests who arrived on the inaugural flight.
Muharram Abdelrahman, EgyptAir’s general manager in Lagos, expressed excitement over the development and said the airline decided to deploy its brand new Dreamliner Aircraft on the Lagos route in order to offer the best quality service to Nigerian customers and to appreciate their patronage.
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As part of celebrations to welcome the Dreamliner to Lagos, EgyptAir also opened its newly refurbished airport office that has been exquisitely designed to meet customer comfort and offer efficient service delivery.
The newly refurbished office is fully fitted with modern and automated facilities that offer guests seamless one-stop services with an ambience of tranquillity.
With the deployment of the Dreamliner on the Lagos route, the airline hopes to further grow its market share and gradually increase its frequency on the route to daily flights on an initial basis and double daily flights in the near future.
In a bid to encourage more passengers from Nigeria to travel to Cairo, Egypt and beyond, EgyptAir said it was offering cheaper airfares, waive penalties for rescheduling of travel date, refund and change in reservations.
This is also as the airline has concluded plans to give visa-on-arrival and free PCR Covid-19 test to Nigerian tourist travellers to Egypt.
In an interview with BusinessDay, Abdelrahman said EgyptAir understood the cost implications of paying for PCR tests in and out of Nigeria and had decided to reduce the budget with pocket-friendly fares.
“At EgyptAir, we gave all facilities to travel agencies. Now, if anyone needs to issue his ticket or reschedule his travel date, we are no longer collecting anything. It is free. We waive the penalty for a refund; we waive the penalty to change a reservation, just to encourage more people to come.
“We are now offering reduced fares without any restriction. If you fly with EgyptAir, we will give you a very good rate because to have a PCR, it will cost money and to have another PCR at the destination will cost money. If we can add all the PCRs to the budget of the trip, it will be high. So we need to encourage people and we are offering a reduced price to the people.”
Abdelrahman emphasised that the airline took seriously, the health and safety of its passengers, airport and its crew, adding that passengers going to Cairo were expected to have their PCR test 72 hours before travel.
He also explained that the airline was also abreast with the requirements of each country they operated to as regards Covid-19 health protocol and was willing to assist passengers to enjoy seamless airport, departure and arrival formalities.
“We have two categories of passengers: those going to Cairo and those going beyond Cairo. For those heading to Cairo, they are required to have PCR test 72 hours before their journey, but we are applying the policy instruction for those going beyond Cairo.”
He said for aviation and tourism to thrive in this period of the pandemic, people needed to be encouraged and given the assurance that it was safe and secured to fly even with the COVID-19.
According to him, EgyptAir was currently in talks with the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies, (NANTA) on how to work together and come up with solutions and ideas to relieve passengers of their fears. He noted that certain incentives had been put in place to boost the tourism industry and stimulate the airline business.
These incentives, he said, included: discount in hotel reservations, visa-on-arrival, free PCR COVID-19 test, amongst others.
