Africa’s first Airline, EGYPTAIR, has deepened its market access in the Nigerian market by engaging the services of a General Sales Agent (GSA) to drive its sales and marketing strategy in the market.
The airline partnered with Elite Tours, a well renowned GSA firm with a track record in offering excellent airline sales and marketing in Nigeria; with its mother company, Master Travels, an Egypt-based Travel and Tourism Management Organization.
As part of its new marketing strategy, the airline also opened a new office in Kano on December 4, 2023 to better reach out to its customers and offer excellent services.
The opening ceremony which attracted high profile aviation and allied industry personalities was graced by the likes of His Excellency, Mr. Khalil A. Muselmani, the Honorary Consul of Lebanon to Nigeria; Mr. Ahmed Dauda Bagari, Comptroller, Nigeria Immigration Service; and Dr. Mohamed Abdeldayem, Chairman of Master Group. Top flight tour operators in Kano as well as other VIPs and Corporate Clients were also on hand to lend their support.
Speaking on the pedigree of the GSA, the Managing Director of Elite Tours, Mr. Mohamed Said declared that, “The company has a strong history in Egypt. We are one of the top tour operators in Cairo, with a mother company in Egypt known as Master Travels.”
The General Manager of the GSA in Nigeria, Mr. Muharram Abdelrahman said, “This is a significant milestone in the history of EGYPTAIR in Nigeria since the airline started operations in the country more than 45 years ago. During this time EGYPTAIR used to carry out its business in Nigeria by itself through its offices in Lagos, Kano and Abuja. In order to get more quality service, pull customers closer and satisfy their needs, the airline took a decision to have a GSA in Kano and Lagos.
“We help in the coordination of EGYPTAIR operations with the Management of the airline here in Nigeria and have held different meetings with our ground handling agent together with the catering company, so that we can be sure that high quality service is getting to EGYPTAIR customers. Also, we recently enhanced our product in Kano with our brand new A321. In addition, we need to concentrate more on the cargo business especially in Lagos; to bring more flights and aircraft to cover the high demand for cargo. These are different ways we are trying to enhance our services in the Nigerian market”, added Abdelrahman.
Mr. Mohamed Farahat, General Manager of Investment, remarked that, “Sometimes the airline needs an investor to invest some money in order to enhance all their products and services. That is the reason why they are looking for a GSA that can provide this service. We are investing some extra money to get the better service which EGYPTAIR is trying to enhance.”
EGYPTAIR Country Manager, Mr. Amr Basha disclosed that, “The airline tends to operate through a GSA in order to make its operations more efficient. EGYPTAIR is now trying to expand to many other new destinations. So, instead of building or renting our own staff and offices, we contract a GSA with more experience in the market. And that is probably why they chose Mr. Muharram Abdelrahman as GSA Manager, because he is very experienced and has a strong knowledge about aviation in Nigeria..”
He added: “We are also concentrating on tourism because the GSA – Elite Tours – is one of the top tour operators in Egypt. We are planning to have charter flights from here to Sharm El Shiek during the Easter and summer holidays. In the domain of medical tourism, we are planning a package for medical tourists in coordination with EGYPTAIR Hospital. Again, we have planned several packages for travel agents which include aviation ticketing courses, airline marketing and sales courses as well as other related fields in coordination with EGYPTAIR Training Centre.”
Speaking on the benefits of working with the GSA, he added: “Our partner GSA is one of the top tour operators in travel and tourism in Egypt, so we will have more ability to organize travel packages. Wakanow Travel was a PSSA for us in the area of tourism and we provided so many packages to Egypt such as Education tourism, medical tourism and Egypt destination tourism. Combining these partnerships will surely lead to more success for us in the market.”
As regards the issue of blocked funds, he added: “We are impacted by it, like the majority of airlines operating here in Nigeria, but it didn’t affect our operations. We are flying daily from Lagos; four (4) times from Abuja and four (4) times from Kano.”
“We are impacted because we cannot take our money out, but we remain in the market because we have a good relationship with the Nigerian government as well as with our customers, and we need to serve the Nigerian market in spite of whatever we are facing.”
