EgyptAir to start Cairo-Abuja, Cairo-Dar es Salaam flights from June 2009

EgyptAir, the flag-carrier airline of Egypt, has announced that it would start flights between Abuja in Nigeria and Cairo in Egypt from June 1, 2009. The new flight would bring EgyptAir’s total entry points to Nigeria to three.

There will be two flights from Abuja to Cairo every week – on Mondays and Fridays.

This is in addition to the existing 4 flights from Lagos (Nigeria) and 5 flights from Kano (Nigeria) to Cairo every week.

EgyptAir said it would use a brand-new Boeing 737-800 aircraft on the Abuja-Cairo route.

EgyptAir has also decided to resume operations between Cairo and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania in June 2009.

The airline will operate direct flights between Cairo and Dar es Salaam every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Passengers from Tanzania to other parts of the world can connect through the Star Alliance network.

The website allafrica.com quoted Wael Demerdash, EgyptAir’s country manager for Tanzania, as saying, “The decision to resume flights on the Cairo-Dar es Salaam route is both a political and a business one since the market in Tanzania is growing fast.”

EgyptAir had suspended its operations in Tanzania in 1994.

A statement from EgyptAir said that the aviation authorities of Nigeria had offered all facilities that EgyptAir needs to operate the new flights between Abuja International Airport and Cairo International Airport.

Aviation officials in Egypt, according to EgyptAir, have invited qualified airliners based in Nigeria to operate services to Cairo.

They said that the invitation is based on the Egyptian awareness of the importance of high air travel linking the largest two bodies of population in the North Eastern Africa and Sub-Sahara West Africa.

The state-owned EgyptAir, a member of Star Alliance, is based at Cairo International Airport, which is its main hub. The airline operates passenger and freight services to destinations in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

EgyptAir said in the statement that it airlifts around 20,000 passengers from Kano and 14,000 passengers from Lagos to Cairo every year.

These passengers mainly include patients who travel for medical treatment as well as students who go to Cairo for studies.