The introduction of a new year-round direct service between Dublin and Cairo by Egyptair is scheduled to begin on June 2.
In addition to being Ireland’s first scheduled air service to and from Egypt, the new route will be served by an Airbus A320 NEO four times per week on a daily basis.
Flights to Cairo are now available to buy on egyptair.com, with 126 tickets in economy class and 16 seats in business class available.
In the beginning, Egyptair had intended to fly from Dublin Airport in 2020, but the service was cancelled as a result of the pandemic, which took a terrible toll on the airline industry.
“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,” said Vincent Harrison, Managing Director of Dublin Airport. “This new route will be welcomed by both business and leisure travellers,” he added.
The Egyptian capital also serves as a hub for onward connections to popular tourist locations such as Sharm el-Sheikh, Hurghada, Luxor, and Aswan, as well as Egyptair’s extensive international route network.
It comes at a time when Ireland’s airports are working to restore capacity after the Covid disaster.
In January, over one million passengers (992,000) passed through Dublin International Airport, an increase of 778,000 over the same month in 2020 but a decrease of 53% compared to the same month in 2020.
In the next months, Aer Lingus will restart direct flights to San Francisco, with the goal of returning to 90 percent of normal capacity by 2022.
Daily flights to Los Angeles will begin on May 12 and return on May 26, respectively, and a return service to Miami on March 14 will increase the company’s total number of transatlantic destinations from Ireland to 14.
Also on March 27, United Airlines will begin its daily service between Dublin and Washington/Dulles, with a new route between Chicago and Washington/Dulles to follow.
Meanwhile, Ryanair has announced its largest-ever summer schedules from Dublin and Cork airports for 2022, with new flights from Cork to Alghero, Pisa, Valencia, and Venice, as well as Dublin to Madeira, among other destinations.
According to Fáilte Ireland, forecasts indicate that up to 83 percent of Ireland’s pre-pandemic air passenger capacity could be restored this year, and the Irish Tourist Industry Confederation (ITIC) says it is “not unrealistic” to expect overseas visitor arrivals to recover to 60-70 percent of pre-pandemic levels by 2022.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the closing of Ukrainian airspace, on the other hand, might have an influence on the recovery, changing airline routes, raising aviation fuel costs, and perhaps causing customers to be concerned.
Ryanair has suspended all flights to and from Ukraine for at least 14 days and has removed all flight sales for at least four weeks, while Reuters reports that IAG, the parent company of British Airways and Aer Lingus, is avoiding Russian airspace for overflights after Britain banned Russian airline Aeroflot from the country.
Ukrainian skies and airspace in Russia and Belarus within 100 nautical miles of Ukrainian borders, according to the European Union’s Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), might constitute a threat to aviation safety.