Germany's FTI to operate 4 weekly flights to El Gouna resort from early November
The new flights will bring about 3,000 tourists a month... with plans to increase frequencies to a daily flight
German company FTI, one of the largest tour operators to Egypt, announced it will operate 4 regular flights dedicated to El Gouna resort on the Red Sea, under a program called "El Gouna Express or Shuttle Flights", starting from November 1.
The new flights will add about 800 tourists a week to the number of tourists heading to the Red Sea. The aircraft dedicated to these flights, part of the fleet of charter airline SunExpress, with its distinctive livery, serves as an ambassador for El Gouna resort across Europe. With the addition of the new El Gouna program, the number of FTI's weekly charter flights will reach 70, flying directly to the Red Sea from 23 cities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, making it the largest organizer of direct flights to Egypt.
The four regular flights are scheduled to depart from Munich and Frankfurt in Germany, with the aircraft carrying about 200 tourists per flight, on Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays every week. The flight from German airports to the resort town of El Gouna, which is located 25 kilometers from Hurghada International Airport, takes about 4 hours.
For his part, Minister of Tourism Hisham Zaazou stressed that the German company's expansion through the new flights to El Gouna will have a marked impact in attracting more tourist traffic to Egypt, and also serves as a reassuring message to tour operators and tourists from various countries to visit the Egyptian destination, noting that there is constant communication with tour operators to urge them to operate more flights to Egypt.
It is worth noting that on September 24, Hurghada Airport received the first aircraft of the German company's express flight program, "El Gouna Shuttle Flights", dedicated to visitors to Egypt's El Gouna resort on the Red Sea. Tourists arriving on that flight were welcomed by Dietmar Gunz, head of Germany's FTI, and Samih Sawiris, chairman of Orascom for tourist resorts.
In this context, Dietmar Gunz, head of the German company, said the new flight schedule will give tourists from German-speaking countries flexibility in setting the length of their short breaks, in addition to being available all year round, adding that El Gouna resort offers a high level of service and leisure facilities such as golf, diving, relaxation, and beauty and wellness centers, as in resorts such as Nice, Venice and Monaco, along with reasonable prices.
On future plans, Gunz revealed that in the short term the company intends to increase the number of flights from the current 4 a week to 7, meaning a daily flight will depart from various German airports to El Gouna on the Red Sea.
For his part, Samih Sawiris, founder of El Gouna resort, said the new flights will give a boost to inbound tourism to El Gouna and to Red Sea resorts in general, which are distinguished by good tourism infrastructure and excellent service at very reasonable prices.
Sawiris added that the aircraft bearing El Gouna resort's logo, as it travels around various European airports, is the strongest and most effective advertisement for the resort among European tourists, arousing their curiosity to visit the resort and spend their holidays there. He praised the partnership with the giant German tour operator FTI to work together to push the Red Sea forward as a tourist destination.
Thanks to the distinguished partnership between Germany's FTI and El Gouna resort, the company's customers will enjoy many of the resort's advantages, whether at the hotels they stay in, in the town center or at the yacht marina.
The promotional catalog prepared especially for El Gouna resort features 17 of the resort's hotels, along with a wide variety of entertainment and leisure activities, and the company's customers will receive many benefits as soon as they book one of El Gouna's hotels.
Germany's FTI is the largest tour operator to Egypt from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, with its share of these markets reaching 30%. The company is presenting its offers for the 2015/2016 winter season through 3 illustrated catalogs featuring 200 hotels ranging from 3 to 5 stars, as well as 20 Nile cruise ships between Luxor and Aswan, in addition to 5 domestic programs to visit Egyptian tourist sites and two short Nile cruises, covering all the wishes and interests of its customers planning to spend their holidays in Egypt.
FTI operates 3 weekly flights from three German airports to Sharm El-Sheikh, in addition to 4 direct flights to Luxor, and from there via domestic flights to the Red Sea.
The FTI travel group is headquartered in Munich, Germany, and achieved sales of about 2.4 billion euros in the 2013/2014 fiscal year.
