CAIRO - “The Lufthansa Group enjoys a leading status in Egypt's promising and growing aviation market, with 38 weekly flights being currently operated by its airlines from/ to Cairo to its hubs in Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, Vienna and London,” said a senior official in the German airline. “Out of this impressive total, Lufthansa is contributing alone 14 weekly flights between Frankfurt and Cairo, in addition to four flights on the Munich-Cairo route,” added Ulrich Link, newly appointed Director Sales for Lufthansa in Egypt, Levant and Eastern Africa, during his maiden meeting with Egypt's top aviation and travel writers. “The Group's Airlines transported more than 209,900 passengers from/to Cairo in 2010, connecting them through Lufthansa's European hubs to the entire world”, Link, holding an engineering and management degrees from the FH Aachen and from RWTH Aachen, added. He disclosed that the Airlines, namely Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, and bmi, generated £16 million in Egypt during the first half of 2010. Some 18 million passengers in 100 countries voted Lufthansa as winner of the “World Airline Award 2010” as best Airline in Europe. Lufthansa was also announced winner of the 2010 Award of the “Business Traveler Middle East” as the Best European Airline serving the Middle East region. Boasting of a 20-year long career within the Lufthansa Group alone, Link revealed that in 2009 Lufthansa Call Centre in Egypt received a total of 132,602 calls inquiry, and 17,994 calls during the first half of 2010 alone, recording an increase of 43per cent, compared to the same period the year before. Lufthansa's Miles&More Programme in Egypt is proving another success story, as its members are now more than 136,000, mainly in Cairo and Alexandria, and all over the country. Miles&More Programme, launched by Lufthansa in 1993, has more than 15 million members worldwide, and grants its members free access to the different Star Alliance and Lufthansa Lounges depending on their status. [email protected]