Egypt is reduced

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   The middle of November has become an uneasy period for operators working with Egypt, who have to reduce the volume of flights. According to experts, the reduction will last till the 20th of November and, in general, there will be 25-30% smaller number of flights. Instead of 4 weekly flight to Hurghada and three to Sharm-El-Sheikh ‘Tourenergoservice’ leaves 3 to Hurgard and two to Sharm-El-Sheikh. What is more, ‘Skyway’ is changing to blocks, while previously it had its own charter.
   The reason for the change in flight schedules is in the drop in demand for the main resorts to Egypt – Hurghada and Sharm, which have been traditional for this season during past several years. Meanwhile, as market players note, this time the reduction of flights is lagging behind the demand drop. ‘The demand is falling faster than the number of seats. It is still difficult to forecast how the situation will develop further’, says Mikhail Ioffe, the head of the department of Egypt at ‘Tourenergoservice’.
   The possible explanation for such misbalance, according to some on-viewers, is the original excess of flights compared to the previous year (by approximately 15%). ‘Therefore, in spite of the reduction, the abundant air will retain’, comments Anna Podgornaya, general manager of sales in ‘Pegas Touristik’. Igor Andreev, commercial director of ‘RTK’ adds: ‘Now operators have a task not as much to earn but not to loose’.