Nile Air

Nile Air

IATA NP ICAO NIA Callsign NILEBIRD
Founded	2008
Hubs	Cairo
Secondary hubs	Alexandria - Borg El Arab
Focus cities	Yanbu Qassim Taif Jeddah
Fleet size	2 (+9 Orders)
Destinations	4
Company slogan	Truly yours
Headquarters	Cairo, Egypt
Key people	Captain Abdullah Al Haidar (CEO)
Website	http://www.nileair.com/

Nile Air (Arabic:النيل للطيران) is an airline with its head office in the Sheraton Heliopolis in Cairo, Egypt.^[1] Plans for the airline were announced in the 2007 Dubai Air Show.

The airline launched operations in August 2010, initially operating a short term wet lease contract with Libyan Arab Airlines and scheduled services were launched from Egypt in March 2011.

History

In the 2007 Dubai Air Show the privately owned carrier signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Airbus for 9 A321 aircraft. This order was firmed in January 2009. The Airbus order is said to be worth $792 million according to current list prices.

The airline will receive the first of these 9 new planes in late 2012, however 2 leased Airbus A320s (from Aercap) arrived in July and November 2009 as an interim solution.

Al-Tayyar said the company would raise the bulk of the money for plane purchases through Islamic bank loans and that it has the backing of two financial institutions. Nile Air will be owned by Saudi Arabia's largest travel services firm, Al-Tayyar Travel Group.

Nile Air initially launched flights to Saudi Arabia before beginning services to other Middle East & Gulf destinations. Dr. Nasser Al-Tayyar (Chairman of Al-Tayyar Travel Group and Founder of Nile Air) said that the airline also plans to sell 30% of its shares to the public in an initial public offering (IPO). "We will list the shares on the Cairo bourse in 2010/2011"

Operation

On 1 November 2009, the airline received its (AOC) by the Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority which permits the airline to launch operations.

In January 2011, the airline became the first private Egyptian airline to publish its schedule and flight availability (with the launch of scheduled services to Iraq) on the Global Distribution System (GDS), reflecting Al Haidar (CEO)'s distribution strategy that targets to sell 75% of bookings through the GDS.

The airline began operations in August 2010, operating on wet lease from Libyan Arab Airlines. Nile Air have launched its first scheduled services in March 2011 with the launch of flights to Saudi Arabia.

Destinations

As of August 2011, Nile Air serves the following destinations with scheduled services:

• Egypt
  • Cairo - Cairo International Airport
  • Alexandria - Borg El Arab Airport
• Saudi Arabia
  • Yanbu - Yanbu Airport
  • Qassim - Qassim Airport
  • Ta'if - Ta’if Regional Airport
  • Tabuk - Tabuk Regional Airport
  • Jeddah - Jeddah Airport

Other destinations earmarked for future expansion will include Europe and Middle East.

Fleet

The Nile Air fleet has an average age of 3 years and consists of the following aircraft (at July 2011):

Nile Air Fleet

Aircraft	In Service	Orders (Options)	Passengers (Business/Economy)	Notes
Airbus A320-232	2	0	142 (16/126)	Leased from Aercap
Airbus A321-200	0	9	TBA	Deliveries from 2012
Total	2	9		Last updated: July 2011

External links

	Egypt portal
	Aviation portal

• Official website

References

1. ^ "Contact Us." Nile Air. Retrieved on 17 February 2011. "Nile Air Head Office 8/Block 1140 Abdel Hamid Badawy St.Sheroton Heliopolis Cairo - Egypt."

• http://www.arabianbusiness.com/504097-airbus-wins-792mn-nile-air-order
• http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=busav&id=news/EGYP11157.xml
• http://www.altayyargroup.com/