EgyptAir is to launch a new year-round direct Dublin-Cairo service from this summer.
The new route, which commences on June 5th, will operate four times a week, and will be Ireland’s first scheduled air service to Egypt.
A spokeswoman for DAA, which operates Dublin Airport, said the market for air travel between Dublin and Cairo was increasing, with an estimated 14,000 passengers travelling between the two cities last year.
EgyptAir also has an extensive route network from its hub in Cairo to onward destinations in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
The new service will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays with an Airbus A320NEO aircraft that is due to join the EgyptAir fleet in February. The 142-seat configuration will have 16 seats in business and 126 in economy.
"We're very pleased to welcome EgyptAir to Ireland and to add Cairo to Dublin Airport's extensive route network," said Dublin Airport managing director Vincent Harrison.
“Cairo is one of the world’s great cities, and we will be working closely with EgyptAir to promote this new route, which will be welcomed by both business and leisure travellers.”
EgyptAir chairman and chief executive officer Ahmed Adel said he was “delighted that EgyptAir would have four weekly flights linking the capital cities of Egypt and Ireland”.
The Egyptian ambassador in Ireland, Khaled Sarwat, said the new route would “further enhance and deepen the bilateral relations between Egypt and Ireland, and boost the mutual investment, trade and tourism between our two friendly nations”.
Arab world
With a metropolitan area population of 20 million, Cairo is the largest city in the Arab world. It is located on the banks of the Nile, and the Pyramids at Giza and the Sphinx are less than 10 miles from the city centre. Cairo is third on Lonely Planet’s Top 20 cities to visit in 2020.
EgyptAir, which is part of the global STAR Alliance, carried more than nine million passengers in 2019 on a fleet of 68 aircraft.
It operates more than 70 routes, including services to 18 African destinations, 17 in the Middle East, seven in Asia-Pacific and three in North America.
Dublin Airport has flights to more than 190 destinations in 42 countries operated by 50 airlines.
