Founder Airlines of Arabesk sign Articles of Co-operation
10/2/2006


Founder members of the Arabesk Group, a commercial co-operation involving initially six Arabian airlines, formalised their relationship at a signing ceremony in Cairo, Egypton Saturday, January 21.The signing of the Articles is the culmination of one year of preparation where the carriers studied the viability, negotiated the agreement and began the implementation of Arabesk.

Articles of Co-operation were adopted that set out the ways in which the founding members will work together for mutual benefit.They include sections on governance, membership criteria, dispute resolution, commercial activity, operations, financial obligations and ongoing construction of the group.

The airlines involved are Egyptair, Gulf Air, Middle East Airlines, Royal Jordanian Airlines, Saudi Arabian Airlines and Yemen Airways (Yemenia).Tunisair is likely to join once the necessary studies are completed.

“This is not an airline alliance, but a unique grouping of carriers from a single region designed to help members realise better commercial potential, through schedule coordination” said Abdul Wahab Teffaha, secretary general of the regional representative body, the Arab Air Carriers Organisation (AACO).“The co-operation is already yielding benefits for the individual carriers and is demonstrating that this is a good path for the future, as well as providing value added service to the travelers through better market coverage” Teffaha added.

The carriers in the Arabesk Group were already cooperating in preparation to the formation of this cooperation formed now with the assistance of Sabre Airline Solutions’ consulting business.

The carriers have already started co-operating on flights and each will have code-share flights and special prorate agreements (SPAs) with other members during the Summer 2006 schedule period.

Nejib Ben-Khedher, senior vice president of the consulting group at Sabre Airline Solutions, said: "The Arabesk initiative is proof that airlines in the same region can work together effectively, through ensuring that schedule co-operation occurs while allowing free and open competition. We’re confident that Arabesk Group will stimulate traffic growth in the region and improve the market share of each of the members.The early results have been impressive."

Other airlines have expressed interest in membership and will follow an application procedure defined in detail in the Articles of Co-operation.