Cairo: When Hatem Abdullah, an Egyptian leather trader, planned his coming trip to Italy, he initially thought of booking with a foreign airline whose fares are lower than those of the national carrier. Just days ago, Abdullah changed his mind.
“I changed my mind and booked on EgyptAir because this is the time to stand by this national company at its time of trouble,” Abdullah, 49, said. “I have friends who have also decided to do this out of patriotism.”
Last week, an EgyptAir plane with 66 people on board crashed into the Mediterranean Sea while en route from Paris to Cairo. The crash came less than two months after an Egyptian man used a fake explosives belt to hijack an EgyptAir airliner on a domestic flight and forced it to divert to Cyprus.
Both incidents have deepened the ills of the state-owned airline that has incurred losses of around 11 billion Egyptian pounds (Dh4.5 billion) since the 2011 unrest due to a sharp decline in tourist arrivals to the country, according to media reports.
In the aftermath of the May 19 tragedy, sympathetic Egyptians created hashtags titled “Fly EgyptAir” and “Support EgyptAir”. Several Egyptian media outlets have backed the initiative, calling on their viewers to travel aboard EgyptAir planes.
The campaign has also drawn support from big-name entertainers in the Arab world.
Popular Egyptian singer Hakim posted on his Facebook page a picture showing him sitting inside an aircraft of the 84-year-old airline.
“I’ve full confidence in the national company EgyptAir,” Hakim said in a Facebook post. “I am now travelling inside its plane. This is the least thing we can offer to our prestigious company. Fly EgyptAir.”
Several non-Egyptian celebrities, including the Syrian diva Asala Nasri, have also voiced backing for EgyptAir.
Echoing the same sentiment, Khalid Yousuf, a prominent Egyptian filmmaker and member of parliament, warned against unnamed travel firms that he said were involved in a “conspiracy” against the Egyptian economy allegedly by dissuading travellers from flying the national carrier.
“I’d like to note that if these firms are acting in goodwill, they have to stop and support EgyptAir,” he said in a Facebook message. “But if they are acting in bad faith, I bring this to the attention of [Egyptian] authorities to deal with these companies which commit national treason at this time of adversity.”
EgyptAir has denied that last week’s disaster negatively affected its ticket sales.
“There is an increasing demand for travelling aboard EgyptAir planes,” the carrier’s head, Safwat Musallam, said without providing figures. He added that the company is intensifying its marketing efforts, saying there have been no disruptions in EgyptAir’s scheduled flights since the May 19 crash.
Egyptians account for around 70 per cent of EgyptAir’s clients, he said in press remarks on Wednesday.
“I appreciate Egyptians’ feeling that EgyptAir is not a mere airline but it is a company carrying the national flag and represents all Egyptians.”
