Cairo operator cuts fares to salvage business aviation use

Alkan Air was founded in 1996 as Egypt ’s first air-taxi company, and operates a Hawker Beechcraft 850XP alongside a Super King Air 350. It is also the agent for Piaggio's Avanti.

But the operator is having to reduce fees in order to generate business.

In a statement today Alkan said "Due to the sad security issue in our beloved Egypt and the unsafe and troubled travel to the remote parts of Egypt, Alkan Air can offer you domestic flights within Egypt with a discount of 10%.
 
This is In order to help you to maintain your business or private schedule without facing the risk of traveling distances in Egypt either by car or by train.  In all our interest, we hope that this security issue resolves and Egypt becomes safe as it was."

Rates include Cairo to Sharm el Shaikh for $4,500.

Whisking the rich and the famous to the oasis resorts of Egypt ’s Western Desert is something that Cairo-based air taxi operator Alkan Air is very good at.

Arabian Aerospace visited Alkan last year. “With our Super King Air 350 we can easily fly to and from oases like Siwa and Dakhla,” said general manager Awad Dargham. “These luxury hideaways aren’t for anyone looking for a cheap holiday – guests include people like movie star Robert de Niro. By car the journey takes up to 12 hours of hard driving. In the King Air we can take up to 10 people there in an hour’s flying time.”
  

Normally business travel can account for up to 65 per cent of the company’s flying time – though even then there’s a leisure dimension. “Some business people want a quick trip to see the antiquities of Abu Simbel while they are in Cairo ,” Dargham explained. “So we take them there, wait for three or four hours while they see the sights, then bring them back to Cairo or on to other destinations like Sharm or Luxor.”

Alkan has also said it will be offering special prices on international trips. Alkan Air’s top international destinations, served mainly by the Hawker Beechcraft 850XP with its 455kt top speed and range of 2,600 miles, are Tripoli in Libya , Lebanese capital Beirut and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia .