RuAviation

In early November 2024, the head of Rosaviatsia Dmitry Yadrov and Egyptian Ambassador to Russia Nazih Elnagarry discussed in Moscow the expansion of bilateral cooperation in air travel between the two countries. They considered the possibility of opening new routes, in particular, the organisation of flights to Russia from the airports of the Mediterranean Egyptian cities of Alexandria (Borg el-Arab) and El Dabaa (El Alamein).

One of the key issues of the start of flights on new routes to Egypt is to ensure the safety of tourists from Russia in the airports of ARE, and the issues of airport inspections in Alexandria and El Dabaa are now being discussed. Dmitry Yadrov told journalists at the Transport Week 2024 forum on 20 November.

‘We are now at the stage of coordination with federal bodies, including the security agencies. But so far not even a business trip has been planned, I think that a couple of weeks are still needed for such coordination,’ the head of Rosaviatsia said on the sidelines of the forum, answering a question about the timing of the inspection.

The economic feasibility of opening new air routes depends on the interest of Russian tour operators and airlines. Rosaviatsia has sent enquiries to assess the potential demand for these destinations. Preliminary results of this analysis will be taken into account when planning further actions.

At present, there are only three direct flights from Russia to three Egyptian cities: Cairo, Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh. Six Russian airlines operate flights on 22 routes. According to the results of 2023, passenger traffic growth was 24% and reached 1 million 900 thousand people. At the end of eight months of 2024, more than 1 million 300 thousand passengers were carried. These data serve as a baseline for forecasting passenger traffic on new routes.

Egypt’s largest port – historical Alexandria, where Cleopatra was born and ruled the country before the Roman conquest, as well as the city of El Dabaa, located near the first nuclear power plant in Egypt being built using Russian technologies (the project is implemented by Rosatom), are of interest from the point of view of tourism and infrastructure development. The inclusion of these cities in the list of destinations will expand the geography of Russian-Egyptian air services. A final decision on the launch of new flights will be made after the airport inspections are completed.