Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Egypt Air Juba flight under fire

We can safely conclude that politics should be an integral component in route planning. Considering the flammable stance between northern Khartoum and southern Juba, Juba flights with en route stop in Khartoum represent an extremely sensitive issue. Can we imagine EgyptAir operating flight to Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) with en route stop in Tel Aviv? It is entirely understood that Cairo-Tel Aviv-Jeddah example is unlikely to happen but Cairo-Khartoum-Juba version is a reality for almost 6 months. While there was no direct confrontational hostility between Saudi Arabia and Israel, there was a bloody military confrontation between Khartoum government and the southern part of Sudan.

Flights to/ and from airports which have operational restrictions, like Juba Airport, should be positioned and timed to avoid any possible service disruptions. With not-so-good on-time performance of EgyptAir, it is not a good idea to operate one-stop flights to Juba. By doing so, EgyptAir is simply increasing the contributing factors of service disruption.

The attitude of EgyptAir airport employees is not new for EgyptAir. After all, they are working in EgyptAir because of their connections, rather than their qualifications. I commented on the mediocre level of EgyptAir’s customer service last July. Ironically, the comments were about Juba flight.

Date: 11 January 2011 commenting on http://www.eturbonews.com/