Eritrean Nationals Who Spend Their Vacation Here Complain with Methodology of Egyptian and Yemeni Airlines

Asmara, 25 August 2010 – Eritrean nationals in the Diaspora who spent their vacation in the Homeland and already began returning to their respective countries of residence complained with the ‘ill-handled” and “disorganized” work of the Egyptian and Yemeni Airlines which caused them to face difficulty in their job and study. 

Ms. Yorsalem Gebreab who resides in the US and visited Eritrea for the first time expressed serious complaint for the frequent contacts and delays caused on the part of such airlines. She explained that although she was booked in the Yemeni Airlines to fly on August 4, she failed to do so due to the misunderstanding of the set departure time.   She went on to say that she even received contradictory responses after a delay of two weeks when she requested to pay the necessary penalty fee and take a flight. Consequently, she said in a complaining manner that she missed her school dateline.

Mr. Gimai Fisehatsion from Sweden who visited Eritrea along with his family said on his part that he missed the Egyptian plane due to time misunderstanding, and as a result his children and himself have been hindered from their education and job respectively. 

Still another national, Ms. Eden Gebreab, residing in the US, pointed out that she was quite distressed by the frequent visits to the Yemeni Airlines and expressed disappointment with the disorganized methodology of the airlines that fail to give respect to passengers.

In a reply he gave regarding the complaints,  the general manager of Egyptian Airlines, Mr. Abdel-Hamid Ramadan,  said that the airlines is abiding with international law, and admitted that such problems are due to lack of enough space as a result of the growing number of Eritrean nationals who came here to spend their vacation. 

He further explained that priority has been given to those who booked and entered into contract earlier with the airline for both their arrival and departure. Mr. Abdel-Hamid stated that those who are complaining are the ones who did not do so about their departure and failed to appear at the set time, and as such they are compelled to wait.

At present, the Egyptian and Yemeni Airlines are each making flights 5 times a week to Eritrea.