After a Long Hiatus, EgyptAir to Resume International Flights to 29 Destinations

Marking an end to the airline operations’ hiatus, EgyptAir – Egypt’s popularly used national airline – is resuming its flight operations in July with 29 destinations routes in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and North America.

In light of the implementation plan set by the Egyptian government for the resumption of air traffic to/from the Egyptian Airports starting July 1st, and the steps taken by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, EGYPTAIR announced resuming its flights to more than 29 destinations. pic.twitter.com/ze6MBMmwyZ

— EGYPTAIR (@EGYPTAIR) June 25, 2020

Mid-March, Egypt’s Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly announced that Egypt was shutting down its airports and air travel in attempts to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus. There were only very few operating flights carrying out repatriation flights for Egyptians who had been stuck abroad.

Resuming flights and operations of airport services is part of the government’s newly adopted ‘co-existence with the virus’ stance, despite the number of COVID-19 cases surpassing 60,000 with a death toll of over 2,500.

”EGYPTAIR will start operation during the first week of July to 13 cities in Europe; (Amsterdam-Athens-Brussels-Budapest-Paris-Rome-Milan-London-Frankfurt-Berlin–Vienna & Istanbul) and flights to (Barcelona – Copenhagen – Geneva – Madrid) will be added within the next few weeks,” announced the national carrier on its official Twitter account on Thursday.

The airline also listed three cities in Africa: Addis Ababa, Juba and Tunisia, as well as  Dar Al Salam to be added in the coming weeks. In the Middle East, flights will resume to four cities Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Beirut; as well as Washington, New York and Toronto for destinations in North America.

Lastly, only one flight will be operational to Asia, and that is to China’s Guangzhou city.

The carrier also stated that the resumption of flight operations would be done while observing social distancing, and taking necessary preventative health measures such as sanitization and the wearing of a face-mask.

In a report by Ahram, Egypt’s aviation minister stated that the carrier lost up to $US 3 million due to the pandemic. Moreover, the lack of flights means a halt in the tourism sector as well, despite the latter being a crucial provider for the Egyptian economy.

However, Khaled El Enany, the country’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, recently announced that touristic activities would resume in the Red sea, Marsa Matrouh and South of Sinai, were COVID-19 rates remain little.