GSA Skyline Expands Cooperation with EgyptAir Cargo

700 tons per month in Benelux, 1,000 tons in Germany
The deal comes like manna from heaven for Skyline since it will considerably boost the gsa’s Egyptair Cargo sales, confirms Managing Director Hassaan Aglan. “In the Benelux countries, our partner offers a monthly transport capacity of roughly 700 tons that we can begin selling from the first of July,” he states. It adds to the 1,000 tons that the Arabian carrier submits to the German market, where Skyline has already been responsible for filling the main decks and lower decks of their aircraft with cargo since April 2018. 
Concerning Benelux, the Egyptian airline (IATA: MP) operates three weekly freighter flights, linking their Cairo hub with Ostend Airport in Belgium. Depending on customer demand, they either deploy A330Fs or their remaining A300Fs on this route. The freighters are complemented by the belly-hold capacity of the airline’s Boeing 737-800 passenger jetliners serving Amsterdam and Brussels. Daily business is taken care of by the sales forces at Skyline’s own offices at Brussels and Amsterdam.

Upcoming fleet changes
According to Chairman Basem Fouad Gohar of Egyptair Cargo, the carrier is amid a fleet rollover. As of October, there will be a uniform freighter fleet of three A330Fs, once their remaining A300-600F are sold. Beginning next year, two MP owned passenger Boeing 737-800s will be converted by Boeing to freighters. Once operational, they will cover routes to and from Africa, the Middle East and even the Indian Subcontinent, while the A330Fs will be used to serve existing or targeted transcontinental destinations such as Hong Kong.
Further to this, Egyptair Cargo’s helmsman points out that more Boeing 787-900s and Airbus A320 neos will be added to the existing fleet of 60 passenger aircraft. “The lower deck capacity of these jetliners is the second mainstay of our cargo business,” he emphasizes.

The competition is decided on the ground, not in the air
Having said this, Mr Fouad Gohar highlights his company’s investments in the ground infrastructure at Cairo Airport. There, the company runs a state-of-the-art cargo terminal comprising 40,000 square meters.
Meanwhile, groundwork has started to add another 1,500 square meters to the freight terminal.
In addition, MP Cargo manages a separate Perishables Center that is equipped with different cool rooms. “A large quantity of our consignments consists of vegetables, fruits and other agricultural products that need to be kept cool all the way from field to shelf,” he explains. A third cargo complex, run by the Egyptian carrier, exists at Alexandria Airport.

Constantly in the black
Finally, the cargo chief points out that Egyptair Cargo, a subsidiary of the Egyptair Holding Company, has been consistently profitable during the last seven years. “That’s the good news, but even better is that our earnings are increasing year by year,” he notes with satisfaction.
Fact is, that gsa Skyline Air Services has contributed substantially to the freight carrier’s financial success, as confirmed by Khaled Youssef, Cargo Manager Germany Egyptair Cargo.

Heiner Siegmund