Cairo Flights

Cairo International Airport is still under construction.When I went to Cairo in February 2007, the old one was used while waiting the construction. You have to go to the airport at least 2.5-3 hours before your departure time. You have to anticipate the traffic hours and busy streets in Cairo. If you stay in the hotel, ASK THE HOTEL`S RECEPTION TO ARRANGE THE TAXI FOR YOU.I may say, you have to ask for the fare first. The old airport is small with only one functional gate to the checking in desk. If you want to go to the toilet, you better use the toilets in duty free area, not in the waiting room area before the checking in desk. Airport tax usually will be included when you buy your plane tickets. The old airport has few boarding gates. I hope the new airport will be much better than the old one.

I had trouble a few times trying to book local flights as the travel agents computer system (in cairo) went on the blink on several occasions. I recommend giving yourself a few extra days to book / confirm a flight.

Cairo International Airport is the major civilian airport in Cairo, Egypt. It is the primary hub for EgyptAir. It is located to the northeast of Cairo, about 15 km from the downtown area. It is administered by the Cairo Airport Authority. A free shuttle bus links the two terminals, 3km (1.9 miles) apart. The bus runs 24 hours a day and departs approximately every 30 minutes.
The Airport is connected to the city by two roads, the main access road is the Salah Salem Road that goes through Heliopolis from downtown and another secondary road, the Autostrad road.
A new established Shuttle Bus service that reaches to several distinations such as Heliopolis: Nasr City, Downtown Cairo, Giza, Mohandesin, Zamalek, Maadi, Haram (Pyramids area).
Taxis are available at any time, and operated on a flat fee basis. Official Cairo taxis are predominantly black and white. The Airport Bus Service both air-conditioned & non air-conditioned operates from Terminal 1. There are several stop bus stations; at Tahrir Square, downtown Cairo, Mohandesin, and along Pyramids Road in Giza . Entering the airport requires payment of a toll of 5 LE/3 hours for private cars and cabs.

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I flew Gulf air from Singapore to Bahrain (8 hours) with stopover and then from Bahrain to Cairo (3 hours) for this trip to Egypt.

Gulf air is the second after, Emirates airlines, from Middle East that I have flown. I found the services is minimal in the Economy class and the food on board are quite undesirable. I flew Emirates twice before (one Syria and the other to Morocco) and I found meals served in Emirates airlines are much better. The seating are smaller in Gulf air, in my opinion. No wet towel is served throughout the whole flight. All passengers have to use dirty hands to touch the bread (which is dry and cold). The meals are simple and tasteless. Look at the meal pics and see if that is the kind of in-flight meal you want. Sigh. This is not the airline I want to fly again unless I have no choice. Rating for food and general services: Poor

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There is a huge price discrimination on Egyptair domestic flights in Egypt. It is extremely cheap for locals and residents and extremely expensive for foreigners...

Here is an example:

I called the Egyptair office in Istanbul for a return ticket between Cairo and Sharm and was quoted 103 Euros return. I thought it was an OK deal so decided to buy once I was in Cairo. When I went to their office at the airport, I was quoted 165 Euros for the same ticket...

My Egyptair flight attendant friend told me that the tickets are cheaper outside Egypt to attract tourists. And once you are actually in Egypt, they dont care anymore...

I decided to take a bus which was supposed to take 6 hours but took 8.5 hoyrs and was the WORST experience of my life....

So I decided to take a flight back to Cairo. I went to the Egyptair office in Sharm to get a one way ticket and was quoted 110 Euros. I had to buy it was I didnt want to take the bus again...

In short....Buy your domestic flights from your own countries and not in Egypt!!!

We took an aeroplane from London to Cairo via Frankfurt. It took around 1.5 hours from London to Frankfurt then 3.5 hours from Frankfurt to Cairo. We flew Lufthansa...of our 11 flights they were probably lower on the scale than the others (although we had what looked like a brand new plane to Cairo).

We flew out of Cairo to Bangkok via Dubai... It took around 3.5 hours to Dubai flying with Singapore Airlines (the best airline in my opinion) and about 6.5 hours to fly Dubai to Bangkok with Thai Airways.

Last Saturday (Sept 10th 2005) we were dropped at Terminal 1 - Departure International Flights, only to hear that KLM (and Air France and North West) now depart from the brand new Terminal 2 (Hal 2). We had to find transportation again, as the distance is too great too walk, certainly with all the luggage. The directions are poor and there didn't seem to be a shuttle bus....

The new terminal is beautiful, but a bee hive. A man volunteered to push our trolley, but was unable to help us for more than 10 meters. I gave him 1 pound, and he said: "This is a very small amount, sir". I said, "I know, it was only a small trip".

It also took us some time to figure out what line to take, and we were greatly helped by a tour operator who assumed that we were part of his party. We had to queue in a line at the back. After checking in, we had to fill in a form that was stamped by the douane, as was the visa in our passport.

After the customs, it is a bit small. We went upstairs, were there are some tax free shops. I managed to buy some nice Egyptian CD's and got rid of my pounds that way. In the boarding, area were not enough seats and we had to stand for about 45 minutes. Again one has to show one's passport. Have it open on the stamped page.

We were taken by a bus - there were plenty of busses - to the plane. There were two stairs, so embarkation went fast.

Singapore Airlines is the way to go... the service, generous supply of inflight movies and games kept me entertained while the itinerary of our flight path from Perth to Singapore, Singapore to Dubai, Dubai to Cairo, let me know how much longer I had until touch down and my 14.5 hour journey would be complete!