Programs: Gulf Air Gold for Life; Qantas Platinum; One World Emerald. Hyatt Platinum
Posts: 885
"Sabah, anyone? LMAO"
When Sabah was young and pretty she was very sophisticated...as she ages she just doesnt want to die..a larger than life personality reflected in her rather 'loud' tastes in fashion and almost aged 'Barbie Doll' personal apprerance.
Thus perhaps her current fashion sense is the reson she is THE most loved Lebanese performer in Egypt and literraly adopted almost as Egyptian?
Can I jump into this out of the blue
During the July war in 06, we flew LCA-SIN-SYD on MEA. It was one amazing flight. I wished then one day ME flies SYD via SIN (the new terminal me thinks), its a 10 hour sector, and beats KL's airport. An early departure from BEY (say 8AM), with early arrival into SYD. Then return flight departs in the evening, and arrives to BEY in the early morning next day.
Programs: Skywards Gold, Qantas FF, BA Executive Club, Cedar Miles, SunMiles, Enrich, Gulf Air FFP
Posts: 700
Look, I know it's easier said that done.
Getting 2 aircraft to run such route (and only that route), along with crew bases in SIN and SYD is big money, bigger than ME's annual profits.
Not to mention the Aus government restrictions (does MEA still hold its rights from the 90's?, or are they still on a codeshare agreement with MH?)
Last time I checked, ME's reservation system was churning fares on EY.
Anyhow, ME needs to strengthen its network, and fix some of its nasty connections (no good connections for LHR-BEY and FCO/MXP-BEY feeder traffic).
QR, EK, and EY are double daily, RJ is trice daily, SV is sometimes double, while ME sticks to its daily flights; not good enough.
Sadly with its small fleet, oversized workforce, and poor political/security stability in the region, one can not but feel sorry for such airline with great potential (the geographical location - a perfect gateway between EU/N. America into the central arab world and vice versa)
Programs: Gulf Air Gold for Life; Qantas Platinum; One World Emerald. Hyatt Platinum
Posts: 885
[QUOTE=edy4eva;9903615]Look, I know it's easier said that done.
Getting 2 aircraft to run such route (and only that route), along with crew bases in SIN and SYD is big money, bigger than ME's annual profits.
Not to mention the Aus government restrictions (does MEA still hold its rights from the 90's?, or are they still on a codeshare agreement with MH?)
Last time I checked, ME's reservation system was churning fares on EY.
Anyhow, ME needs to strengthen its network, and fix some of its nasty connections (no good connections for LHR-BEY and FCO/MXP-BEY feeder traffic).
QR, EK, and EY are double daily, RJ is trice daily, SV is sometimes double, while ME sticks to its daily flights; not good enough.
Sadly with its small fleet, oversized workforce, and poor political/security stability in the region, one can not but feel sorry for such airline with great potential (the geographical location - a perfect gateway between EU/N. America into the central arab world and vice versa)[/QUOTE
SYD-BEY would only ever make sense in a non stop service requiring appropriate ac. I think A345 or 777LR and charging decent fares. I think even if they charged slightly higher fares than EK or EY (whos planes are FULL of pax travelling to BEY) it would still be a winner considering the great convienence and of course a great hard/soft product. MEA has full rights into Australia. This was granted back in the 50's I am told!
__________________ Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof
When Sabah was young and pretty she was very sophisticated...as she ages she just doesnt want to die..a larger than life personality reflected in her rather 'loud' tastes in fashion and almost aged 'Barbie Doll' personal apprerance.
Thus perhaps her current fashion sense is the reson she is THE most loved Lebanese performer in Egypt and literraly adopted almost as Egyptian?
Sabah has a high standing amongst Egyptians across the Arab world. We also love writers like Kahlil Gibran, and (dare I say it) Shakira
I hope that the Skyteam alliance works right for MEA. I'd hate to see the airline remain an 'associate' and rely on all those code-shares. For example, the Dubai-Beirut market is extremely competitive. EK runs double daily alongside Jazeera, Air Arabia not to mention pax who connect through QR, EY and GF. Oh, and Oman flies Dubai-Beirut daily. So does Malaysian Airlines. Yet for some reason, MEA still operates narrow-bodies (not always) on the route and retains a small share for the UAE-Leb market. Surely, with fleet expansion, then the airline can justify 2x daily A333s!
Wisely, on the short-term, the airline flies 2x A332s to CDG for onward traffic. Yet, on the long-term, the airline can justify flying to more destinations and becoming a bigger airline, instead of remaining a pawn in the hands of big fish like AF.
Lebanon still holds rights to fly to SYD, and yes, they will require hard capital to open up an A345 flying BEY-SYD (acquiring ac, bases, maintenance, marketing, etc.) but will take a while to break even. When it does, the route should continue to remain profitable, provided that costs remain linear and efficient in nature, a key component to making a long-haul work.
All the airline needs is faith, and a patient financier.
I believe the whole idea behind buying more aircrafts is to increase frequency to popular destinations in the Gulf (and Egypt too). The limited number of planes MEA currently has and the somewhat extensive network (for an airline with only 9 planes that is) really limits them to 1 flight a day on most routes. Some other routes such as Lagos (ALWAYS a hassle finding seats to Nigeria) operate twice a week; they can easily double that but can't right now because of lack of aircrafts.
I know MEA used to fly to Sao Paolo and Sydney on their 747s but had to cut those routes because they were not profitable. I am wondering why would it be any different now?
__________________
New York Times names BEIRUT as top destination to visit in 2009. See the article here.
MEA's BEY-SYD route was not successful (I assume) because they were doing something wrong. Their financial structure was wrong, and they might have been charging lower fares due to lack of demand, or overcapacity.
Nowadays, fuel prices are higher and passengers are picker than they were in the early 1990s, when SYD was started (I'm getting my info from Wasim's Cedar Jet, which is a very enjoyable source). However, given stable political conditions, MEA could access more capital and more services (maintenance, aircraft acquisition etc.) and if it offers a premium-service that could compete (if only on long-haul) well enough, then paying passengers could come back.
Here's the link to the site I'm talking about-extremely informative for me: http://wassch71.tripod.com/cedarjet1.html
For those of you who don't read Arabic (and I don't either except the occasional article about an airline or airport) the article says:
The airline head reported earnings of $60m in 2007 and forecasts $70m in 2008. The airline will get 6 aircraft in 2009 and 3 in 2010.
The airline will have 4 A330s, 6 A321s and 6 A320s.
More as soon as I find the English version since I'm not too good with Arabic....
Programs: Skywards Gold, Qantas FF, BA Executive Club, Cedar Miles, SunMiles, Enrich, Gulf Air FFP
Posts: 700
Woops should have put the points of the article in:
- Finance by Audi Bank; but other banks will be involved in the future (currently in discussion with them and be announced later)
- 2 futher options on planes (not specified) in 2011 to be confirmed later
- New planes will not be used to expand network, rather to increase frequency, typically: Dubai, Riyadh, Jeddah, Cairo, Amman and others
- Conisdering a 4th rotation to CDG, evening departure (in the works at the moment)
- MEA holds exclusive rights for flight ops until 2012 ; if government decides to revoke that (or grant rights to other potential Lebanese airlines) prior to 2012, they will pursue legal action.
- Cost of the new Airbus's will not be announced. In excess of $70Mil would have been the cost now; they had a much better deal.
- Airbus intended to establish a training/parts centre in Beirut prior to Hariri's assassination (2005); main obstacles were:
Security/political instability; the 3 in 1000 prohbitive tax collected for the government on cost of foreign projects; Work laws in Lebanon that puts restrictions on foreign workforce.
- ME had organised a special flight to TLS on the occasion of receiving the new A330.
Woops should have put the points of the article in:
- Finance by Audi Bank; but other banks will be involved in the future (currently in discussion with them and be announced later)
- 2 futher options on planes (not specified) in 2011 to be confirmed later
- New planes will not be used to expand network, rather to increase frequency, typically: Dubai, Riyadh, Jeddah, Cairo, Amman and others
- Conisdering a 4th rotation to CDG, evening departure (in the works at the moment)
- MEA holds exclusive rights for flight ops until 2012 ; if government decides to revoke that (or grant rights to other potential Lebanese airlines) prior to 2012, they will pursue legal action.
- Cost of the new Airbus's will not be announced. In excess of $70Mil would have been the cost now; they had a much better deal.
- Airbus intended to establish a training/parts centre in Beirut prior to Hariri's assassination (2005); main obstacles were:
Security/political instability; the 3 in 1000 prohbitive tax collected for the government on cost of foreign projects; Work laws in Lebanon that puts restrictions on foreign workforce.
- ME had organised a special flight to TLS on the occasion of receiving the new A330.
Thanks edy4eva
Why would the Lebanese government try to make things difficult for MEA by imposing certain restrictions on the airline's growth? They have one airline, one national flag carrier-not like the US where they have several!
Why should the gov. intervene in their expansion plans....is there a politically-motivated reason (I'm not Lebanese so I wouldn't know)? At this rate, MEA will find it difficult and the only thing flying in/out of the country will be Hezbollah and Israeli missiles!
TOULOUSE, France: Middle East Airlines (MEA) acquired a new Airbus 330-200 this week as part of a plan to expand its fleet to 16 aircraft and open more routes.
"The Airbus 330 is the largest plane in our fleet and this move demonstrates the company's determination to grow and prosper," MEA chief Mohammad Hout told a news conference at the Airbus delivery center in Toulouse, France, on Thursday.
The Airbus 330 is officially priced at $185 million with the engines but Hout said MEA acquired the aircraft at a discount price, which he refused to disclose. The Airbus 330 carries 253 passengers in a typical three-class arrangement and has a range of 12,500 kilometers.
The new aircraft will make direct flights from Beirut to Paris and Jeddah.
"The MEA fleet will consist of four Airbus 330s, six Airbus 321s and six Airbus 320s and we hope to acquire all these planes gradually until 2010," Hout said.
The chairman, who implemented a wide-ranging restructuring program of the national carrier, also disclosed that MEA recorded a net profit of more than $60 million in 2007.
"Yes we made a very good profit and I project that the profits will climb to $70 million in 2008 if the political situation remains stable. This is good news to some people and bad news to others," Hout said.
He suggested that certain quarters, which he did not name, did not want to see MEA to grow and prosper, alluding to attempts by some officials to create their own aviation firm.
The outgoing government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora three months ago was considering a proposal to launch a tender to create more local airlines.
But MEA staff and pilots dismissed this plan as an attempt to kill the national airline by creating another commercial carrier.
The proposal was immediately shelved by the government after wide protests by MEA staff.
Responding to a question, Hout and the head of Airbus in the Middle East and North Africa, Habib Fekih, denied vehemently that the firms made commissions out of this transaction.
"I say bluntly and clearly that MEA is clean, clean and clean. Any firm which collects or pays a commission will pay a penalty at least 10 times the size of the original contract," Fekih said.
Hout said that MEA is studying proposals from many banks, including six Lebanese ones, to finance the acquisition of Airbus more 330s.
"Bank Audi is a major bank partner for MEA in several businesses, including financing of planes. But now we are dealing with more than one bank, including Audi," Hout said.
He stressed that MEA must get support in order to maintain business in the long run.
"Look at other countries like the UAE and Qatar. These countries did not issue new licenses to compete with Emirates and Qatar Airways," Hout said.
MEA has a right to operate exclusively until 2012.
"If anyone wanted to cancel MEA's exclusive rights then he should go through the legal procedures. But if the Lebanese cabinet takes this decision then we will resort immediately to the justice department and the Shura Council [the highest judicial body] to challenge this decision," Hout warned.
He told The Daily Star that MEA plans to float 25 percent of its shares on the Beirut Stock Exchange in the near future.
"We wanted to list the shares two years ago but these plans were scrapped due to the political situation," Hout said.
MEA's new aircraft flew over Beirut at low altitude several times on Thursday to mark the arrival of the Airbus 330.
