By Mohamed Attia
The Egyptian Holding Company for Airports and Air Navigation signed two co-operation memoranda with ACI Africa, the Airports Council International – Africa Region, and Mozambique Airports, on the sidelines of the 35th ACI Africa Annual General Assembly, Regional Conference and Exhibition, held in Abuja, Nigeria.
During the event, Chairman of the Egyptian Holding Company for Airports and Air Navigation, Ayman Fawzy Arab, signed a memorandum of co-operation with Secretary General of ACI Africa, Ali Tounsi, as part of efforts to expand co-operation between the two sides. The agreement covers human resources development, improving service quality and passenger experience, enhancing sustainability, operational readiness and crisis management, as well as supporting digital transformation and the institutional and economic development of airports.
Under the memorandum, the Egyptian Holding Company will benefit from the professional training programmes offered by ACI Africa to develop and enhance the skills of its workforce. Training opportunities will be made available to executive leaders, as well as technical and administrative staff, through in-person, virtual, or blended training programmes.
The co-operation will also provide opportunities to obtain internationally recognised professional certifications, supporting the continuous development of skills and expertise in line with international practices and standards in the airport industry.
The co-operation also aims to improve passenger experience and service quality at Egyptian airports by supporting the enrollment of selected airports in ACI’s Airport Service Quality (ASQ) programme. It will also include support for passenger experience improvement initiatives, as well as advisory assistance in performance monitoring.
As part of strengthening Egypt’s participation in ACI Africa’s regional activities, the memorandum also provides for the participation of experts and employees from the Egyptian Holding Company in the council’s regional committees. These include areas such as safety and technical matters, security and facilitation, technology and innovation, environment and sustainability, economics, and human resources. This will support the exchange of expertise and participation in discussions on issues and challenges facing the airport industry at the regional level, while further strengthening Egypt’s role in the African airport sector
The signing ceremony was attended by Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Olubunmi Kuku, and Vice President of ACI Africa.
In a related development, the Egyptian Holding Company for Airports and Air Navigation also signed a memorandum of co-operation with Mozambique Airports. The Egyptian side was represented by Ayman Arab, while Mozambique airports was represented by Board Member for Operations, Fonseca da Fonseca, and Board Member for Administration and Finance Saide Junior.
The memorandum aims to strengthen bilateral co-operation and share Egyptian expertise and experience in airport management and operations, technical and engineering co-operation, and infrastructure development. It also seeks to explore further co-operation in a number of technical and operational areas related to the civil aviation sector.
Arab said that the agreements and memoranda of co-operation reflect the company’s approach to expanding its African partnerships and benefiting from the exchange of expertise in airport development and improving management and operational efficiency.
He added that they also support training and capacity-building programmes and reaffirm the company’s commitment to expanding co-operation with African countries and making use of Egyptian expertise and capabilities to support the development of airport systems and human capacity across the continent.
