Foreign companies complain over late charter flights incentive program payments

Egyptian representatives of foreign charter airlines filed complaints to the Prime Minister over delayed payments from the government under the 2015 charter flights incentives program, Al Shorouk reports. Thomas Cook has not been paid its incentives for two years, according to Egyptian Travel Agencies Association VP Moudy Al Shaer. German tour operator FTI’s Meeting Point is owed EGP 25 mn, CEO Ali Okda says. Separately, the Egyptian Tourism Federation filed a lawsuit against the Finance Ministry to cancel the 20% tax on incentives paid out to charter airlines between 2013 and 2015. Federation head Karim Mohsen told the newspaper that the incentive program exempts charter airlines from taxes. The charter flights incentives program was a crucial component of the government’s tourism recovery plan, and had been updated in 2016 by offering payouts to flights with 50-80% seat occupancy rates from the EU.