Challenges & Achievements

Who we are?

•The Arab Air Carriers Organization “AACO”, established in 1965 within the framework of the Arab League, It is the Regional Association of the Arab Airlines who have their home base in countries members of the Arab League.• AACO’s headquarters is located in Beirut - Lebanon, while Amman- Jordan is the base of AACO Regional Training Center, and very soon branches for the training center will be established in other Arab cities.

•AACO is a non governmental organization.

•AACO is a not for profit organization.

•AACO is the trade association of the Arab Airlines.

AACO’s Mission

To Promote Cooperation amongst Arab airlines and to serve their common interests through service excellence.

AACO's Objectives • To promote the highest safety standards.• To provide a framework for a better economic environment for airline operations.• To promote high standards of consumer driven services.• To provide high quality and cost effective framework for human resources development.• To invest in the synergy of interaction between members through establishment of joint projects.

AACO is having 23 member airlines , which were established in the following sequence:

•EgyptAir (1932) •Saudi Arabian Airlines (1945)•Middle East Airlines (1945) •Iraqi Airways (1945) • Syrian Arab Airlines (1946) •Sudan Airways (1946) •Tunis Air (1948)

•Gulf Air (1950) •TMA (1953) •Air Algerie (1953) •Kuwait Airways (1954) •Royal Air Maroc (1957) • Yemen Airways (1962) •Royal Jordanian (1963) •Libyan Arab Airlines (1964)•Emirates (1985)

•Oman Air (1993) •Qatar Airways (1995) •Palestinian Airways (1995)•Jordan Aviation (2000)•Afriqyah Airways (2001) •Etihad Airways (2003) •Air Arabia (2003)

AACO Committees: AACO works through several standing Committees namely:

• Commercial Affairs Committee•Technical Committee•Information Technology Committee•Services Committee• Planning & Development of Human Resources Committee

• Financial Affairs and Economic planning Committee

AACO is serving its members using the critical mass created by the increasing number of AACO members, where we had more than 11 Joint purchase projects .

Joint Distribution agreements

• in 1990 started the 1st joint project , it was the distribution agreement with Galileo, one of the major DCSs in the Middle East area.•8 airlines are Members of the Galileo distribution agreement.

Followed by another agreement with Amadeus.•6 airlines are members of Amadeus distribution agreement.

Joint Fuel Purchase program

• 17 airlines are joining this project.•470 million gallons to be purchased by AACO carriers during the year 2007.•Covers 540 international airport.•More than 17 million dollars estimated savings during 2007.

Joint MIDT processing

•Marketing Intelligence Data (Tapes) Transfer (MIDT) allows airlines to conduct deep analysis of the information and provide decision making tool.•Participating airlines ( seven member carriers who are GF, KU, ME, RJ, SV, IY, and MS) benefit from economies of scale under umbrella of AACO including joint training, and savings on the processing cost.•Extra options had been added to the product free of charge during 2007 , as another achievement for the group.

AACO Regional Training Center ( RTC )

•Established in 1996 through a contribution of EU, Airbus and Boeing.

•Trained more than 12,000 trainee.

•Savings for Members in 2006 only more than 6.5 million US dollars.

•Provide cost effective quality training , and education services with reputable universities.

Joint Cooperation at Outstations

•14 member airlines benefits from the project.•5 stations are currently served , including London/Heathrow, Athens, Istanbul, Rome/Fiumicino, and Frankfurt.•The future plan includes more stations in France, USA , Philippines, Pakistan, Russia, and more.•Annual savings of approximately US 11 Million.

Joint IOSA Implementation

•AACO approached the accredited audit organizations and obtained about 35% discount on the auditing fees.

•Training for IOSA had been offered through AACO RTC at very competitive rates, as well as free programs for preparation of Local staff Instructors for the airlines to cover ongoing training activities, such as DGR and AVSEC.

The Customer Systems Task Force

A consultancy study was conducted by Unisys, and was based on a contract with 10 AACO carriers, under AACO’s umbrella.

The study focused on future passenger solutions and distribution services for airlines, including studying the current situation of GDSs.

The Task Force assignment was split into four modules, E-Ticketing, IBE, Core systems and GDS relations.

A. Common Use Self kiosks (CUSS):

As a post integrated action to the E-Ticketing issue, AACO is approaching vendors and has initiated negotiations for the deployment of common use self

service Kiosks at Arab airports.

B. Core Systems:

AACO realizes that the Arab airlines need to be up to date with their core systems to be able to compete effectively, and AACO CS taskforce has been involved in an extensive action plan and reached perfect agreement with 4 major providers.

Discounts for AACO carriers per booking fee between 10 and 30%, while discounts on the additional services and options of the system were between 30 and 80%.

C. Internet Booking Engines:

AACO had negotiated on behalf of its members, with different vendors to receive commercial proposals on implementing IBEs and related payment gateways.

Agreement had been done with 4 providers for pricing per transaction ( transaction fee).

Also AACO had opened channels of negotiations with several Banks to get better offers.

D. Distribution:

Distribution environment is changing through direct distribution channels and low cost distribution models. The existing AACO distribution agreements will expire in 2008.

AACO had negotiated new distribution agreements with Amadeus, Galileo and Sabre, and had reached better deal than the current situation .

Negotiations with other models of distribution is currently taking place for internet booking and low cost models…..etc.

Arabesk" Network Cooperation Project

Arabesk is a commercial network cooperation involving seven Arab airlines, that helps the member airlines strengthen their competitive position.

Airlines currently involved are EgyptAir, Gulf Air, Middle East Airlines, Royal Jordanian Airlines, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Yemen Airways, and Tunis Air. Other airlines have also expressed interest in membership as Afriqiyah Airways , and will follow the application procedure.

Arabian Air Pass Agreement The AACO Arabian Air Pass agreement is a special multilateral agreement on fares as a statement of commercial cooperation in promoting travel on six airlines' networks, and encouraging tourism to the Arab region. The agreement is applied worldwide on board of the six carriers namely: Air Algerie, Libyan Arab Airlines, Qatar Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Tunis Air and Sudan Airways.

Technical Cooperation

The Technical Committee is starting a joint purchase of "Flight Planning Systems" and "Route manual". And got discounted rate on Jeppesen charts for airports, and is negotiating joint purchase of the pilots electronic kit.

The committee is also embarking on aircraft rental exchange between AACO members through dedicating a page on AACO's website to show all aircraft details of AACO members.

Joint purchase of English Tests for pilots & ATCs

AACO had reached an agreement with a Belgian provider ( Aerosolutions) for on-line testing product needed for the Aviation English Language Proficiency required by ICAO before March 2008.

As well Training for pilots and ATCs who failed to comply with level 4 is available with competitive rates, which resulted in large savings for airlines and CAAs.

This project will be offered as well to states member of ACAC.

Commercial cooperation activities

AACO had organized more than 32 meetings between member carriers for concluding interline agreements and SPAs in light with the new E-Ticketing environment, 10 airlines had participated in those agreements, and rest are following.Those airlines are, Syrian Arab airlines, EgyptAir, Royal Jordanian airlines, Libyan Airlines, Middle East Airlines, Kuwait Airways, Yemen Airways, Oman Air, Gulf Air and Afriqiyah Airways

Industry Partners

AACO has established the Industry Partnership Program in 1998. It enables the members of the program to be invited to our technical forum meetings and to our General Assembly attended by the CEOs and Senior Executives of our 23 member airlines. The program includes now more than 40 partners which include service providers, aircraft and engine manufacturers, reservations systems and more.

AACO’s Aero-political Role

AACO places a great deal of importance to its relationships with international and regional organizations namely: ICAO, IATA, ACAC, European Commission, US DOT and Airlines’ Regional Organizations. Some issues on the table are, the future of Euro-Arab relations regarding bilateral agreements, ACAC Code of Conduct ratification by the Arab States, Cape Town Convention and its ratification, and the new pro-rate methodology agreements.

Arab European Negotiations

AACO is currently pursuing two major issues, namely to allow Arab states to appoint other Arab airlines on European sectors under a code share arrangement with the concerned Arab national airline, and to stress on the importance of "equal opportunities" concept in operations between Arab and European operators. A joint meeting amongst ACAC / AACO and the EC dialogue group will be held in Brussels soon, after the finalization of the restructuring of ACAC, as EU requests that ACAC to be represented during these meetings.

International Cooperation

AACO has established strong relations with major Associations and Authorities in the Aviation industry, coordinating respectively positions and initiatives on regional and international levels seeking the interest of its member airlines.

AACO has on-going coordination with IATA, and the Airlines' Regional Associations being sister organizations to AACO. AACO has established permanent dialogue with governmental organizations such as the Council of the Arab Transport Ministers, the Arab Civil Aviation Commission, the European Commission, US DOT and Eurocontrol. The relations with these Authorities help in making the voice of the Arab Airlines heard while these organizations are in the decision making process and also help in defending the interest of the Arab Airlines before these bodies.

Thank you