Nile Air

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Nile Air
IATA '	ICAO '	Callsign Nile Air
Founded		2008
Hubs		Cairo International Airport
Fleet size		yet to delivered
Destinations		yet to be launched
Headquarters		Cairo, Egypt
Key people		Nasser Al-Tayyar (founder)

Nile Air is a new airline based in Egypt. Plans for the new airline were announced in the 2007 Dubai Air Show. The airline will become the second scheduled operator in Egypt, after EgyptAir (the national carrier), when it launches services in May/April 2008.

1 History
2 Destinations
3 Fleet
4 References

[edit] History

In the 2007 Dubai Air Show the privately owned carrier signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Airbus for 9 A321 aircraft. The airline will receive the first of the 9 new planes in late 2012, however plans to begin operations in the first quarter of 2008 with 3 leased A321 as an interim solution. The Airbus order is said to be worth $792 million according to current list prices.

Al-Tayyar said the firm 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 will initially launch flights to Saudi Arabia before beginning services to other Gulf destinations, Dr Nasser Al-Tayyar (Chairman of Al-Tayyar Travel Group and Founder of Nile Air) said. The airline also plans to sell 30% of its shares to the public in an initial public offering (IPO) in mid-2008. "We will list the shares on the Cairo bourse in the next year,"

[edit] Destinations

The Cairo-based start-up private airline plans to serve Riyadh, Jeddah, Medina, Dammam, Kuwait, Dubai, Doha, and Bahrain with passenger, freight, and airmail services.

[edit] Fleet

The airline has agreed to buy nine Airbus A321 aircraft. The privately owned regional carrier signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Airbus to base its future fleet on the A321 aircraft. As an interim solution until the arrival of these aircraft, the airline will lease at least 3 A321s to launch operations. The first of these aircraft will arrive in April or May 2008.

Dr. Al-Tayyar said, “operational economics and fleet capacity, volume and range are all critical to successful operations, and the A321 is the perfect solution to provide our required balance between volume, cost-efficiency and return on investment.”

“For any company wanting to start airline operations, the choice of aircraft is a critical decision. Nile Air has ambitious plans and we are delighted they have chosen the Airbus A321. The aircraft matches their needs for operational efficiency as well as passenger comfort”, said John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operating Officer Customers.