Airline Profile: Egyptair

The Facts:

Founded	1932
Alliance	Star Alliance
Hubs	Cairo International Airport
Headquarters	Cairo, Egypt
Fleet Count	About 70 (Mainline)
Skytrax Rating	3 (out of 5)
Subsidiaries	Air Cairo Air Sinai
Travel Classes	Economy Class Business Class
Frequent Flyer Program	Egyptair Plus
Website	https://www.egyptair.com/en/Pages/default.aspx
Type of Airline	Full Service Carrier
Competitors	Nile Air

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Analysis

5 Things You Need Know About Egyptair

• Route Network: Egyptair’s route network has obviously been diminished due to COVID, though they are currently still flying to the vast majority of their prior destinations. Normally, Egyptair flies to dozens of destinations in Europe, mostly from Cairo, and a large part of their route network relies on connections from Europe to Africa and the Middle East. Generally, Egyptair operates a fair amount of domestic services, while they also operate to cities all around Africa, such as to Accra and Nairobi in western Africa, or to Johannesburg in South Africa. Egyptair also uses their fleet of A330s, 777s, and 787s to fly long haul; Egyptair flies to three destinations in North America, New York JFK, Toronto, and Washington DC, all of which are currently operational, while they also fly to man cities in Eastern Asia, including Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. Interestingly, Egyptair has also been operating roughly weekly charters between Washington Dulles and Baghdad, Iraq for almost a year now (roughly a couple months after the pandemic started), though I don’t know exactly the reason for that (though I would be especially interested to know).

• Fleet: Egyptair operates a mixed fleet of with roughly 60% being Boeings and the other 40% being Airbuses. Egyptair operates 29 Boeing 737-800s along with 8 A320neos and 12 A220-300s as part of its short-haul fleet, while they relatively recently retired all of their non-neo A320s and A321s. Especially compared to US airlines, their short-haul fleet is quite modern; their first A220 was delivered less than two years ago, while their first A320neo was delivered just over a year ago. Meanwhile, their 737s are also relatively new, with their oldest being almost 15 years ago and an average age of about 9 years. Currently, their A220s are seemingly being used mostly for domestic and regional flights, while their 737s and A320neos are used much more frequently on medium(ish) haul services to Europe and West Africa. In regards to their long haul fleet, Egyptair operates 7 A330s (of which 3 of them are -200s and 4 are -300s), 8 777s (6 of which are -300ERs and 2 of which are -200ERs, the latter of which have been stored since 2018 and in all likelihood will never fly again for Egyptair), and 6 787-9s, with two more on order. Egyptair generally flies their 777-300ERs and 787-9s on their longer flights to North America and East Asia, while their A330s are generally used on short to medium haul flights (though if I recall they used to fly them to a couple of destinations in East Asia, including to Bangkok), such as to Europe or Johannesburg.
• Air Sinai/Israel Flights: Back in 1979, Israel and Egypt signed a peace agreement, which then resulted in Egyptair being allowed to fly to Israel. However, apparently Egyptair didn’t want to make it obvious to the world that they were flying to Israel as there was obviously still a lot of tension. Consequently, Egyptair created a subsidiary that was to fly wet-leased Egyptair planes from Cairo to Tel Aviv and would essentially share everything with Egyptair (such as cabin crew, ground services, etc.), with the only differences being its name, IATA code (Air Sinai uses the code 4D, not Egyptair’s MS), and livery. Throughout its history, Air Sinai has operated 737-200s (which actually had its own livery), along with (up until 2020) Embraer E170s (which were in a sort of hybrid Egyptair livery), while they currently operate two unmarked A220s. However, it was recently reported that Egyptair wants to itself fly to Israel and take over Air Sinai’s route, especially as Emirates, Etihad, and a few other Middle Eastern airlines have started flying to Israel, which would (somewhat sadly) result in Air Sinai’s demise.

• Air Cairo: Egyptair also has a second subsidiary, Air Cairo, which is a low-cost and leisure airline. Air Cairo normally operates scheduled services centered around European tourists from multiple destinations within Egypt, including Cairo, Sharm El Sheikh, Alexandria, Hurghada, among other cities. Additionally, Air Cairo normally operates charter services in coordination with (generally) European tourism companies, given Egypt’s extreme popularity among Europeans. Air Cairo operates a fleet of 7 A320s with three A320neos on order, and, as is usual with low-cost airlines, they operate in an all-economy-class configuration.

• Lounges: Egyptair operates four lounges at Cairo International Airport, (I believe) three of which are in Concourse F and one of which is in Concourse G. Unfortunately, Egyptair doesn’t publish much information regarding their lounges, but they seem to have standard amenities including snacks and standard lounge furniture, though they don’t seem to have any unique features and the reviews I’ve read don’t give them amazing (but not terrible either) marks. Access is available to business class passengers, along with Egyptair Gold (and above) and Star Alliance Gold members. Egyptair business class and elite passengers also have access to all Star Alliance Gold lounges (such as United Clubs), along with contracted lounges at certain airports.

Travel Classes

Economy Class

Aircraft	Configuration	Entertainment	Wifi	Notes
A220	2-3	Personal Device Entertainment	For Purchase	– Only aircraft with personal device entertainment – Only aircraft type that doesn’t have personal on-demand on any aircraft, though streaming entertainment should make up for that
A320neo	3-3	Personal On-Demand	For Purchase	N/A
Boeing 737-800	3-3	Personal On-Demand (154 Seats) Overhead Screens (146 Seats)	Not Available	N/A
Airbus A330-300	2-4-2	Personal On-Demand	For Purchase	I am not 100% sure if there are personal screens in economy class on all A330s, as there is conflicting information online. If not, there are overhead screens.
Boeing 787-9	3-3-3	Personal On-Demand	For Purchase	N/A
Boeing 777-300ER	3-3-3	Personal On-Demand	N/A	Industry standard configuration is now 3-4-3, so Egyptair’s 777 economy is above average in terms of seat width

In terms of on-board food and amenities, Egyptair offers warm meals on the vast majority of flights, including most short-haul ones, which is generally standard outside the US and Europe, while they also offer pillows and blankets on long-haul flights. In terms of baggage allowance, economy class passengers are allocated 23kg/50lbs bags, with quantity being determined by fare class. While Egyptair doesn’t offer an explicit premium economy cabin, passengers can select ‘Comfort Class’ seats on their A220s, an extra legroom section.

Business Class

Business class is available onboard all Egyptair aircraft except for their A220s. All business class passengers receive complimentary access to Egyptair lounges, along with Star Alliance Gold and contracted lounges, while all aircraft are equipped with personal on-demand entertainment in business class. Passengers receive pillows and blankets on all (though possibly not domestic) flights, while amenity kits are available on long-haul flights. Passengers may also check 32kg/70lbs bags, with the quantity being determined both by status and fare class. Please see below a compiled list of all of Egyptair’s business class seats.

• Recliner Seat (737): I believe Egyptair actually has three versions of business class onboard their 737-800s, though they all are relatively similar, and unfortunately, I don’t think it is easy to tell which version you will have. However, all of them have personal on-demand entertainment, are fairly standard recliner seats, and are in a 2-2 configuration. The oldest seat model does not have leg rests, though has foot rests, and has blue fabrics and looks more like your standard old style American domestic recliner seat. The second generation seat also has the same blue fabric, though has leg rests and also looks quite dated. The third generation is available on Egyptair’s newest 737s, and the seats feature brown leather and look much more modern, unlike their previous generation counterparts.

• Collins MiQ (A320neo): Egyptair decided to go with a new hard product when they took delivery of their A320neos and went with the generic Rockwell Collins MiQ product, which is used by many airlines in both business class and premium economy. For example, American, United, Delta, and Cathay Pacific use the seats in premium economy, while American (again), Turkish Airlines, and Philippine Airlines use them for business class. The seats seam to be some of the more extravagant versions of the model, with deep recline, leg rests, and foot rests. The seats also have modern IFE screens and are in a 2-2 configuration. If I had the choice between the A320neo and their 737s, I would choose the A320neo if traveling in business class as the seats are significantly more modern and seem to have more features.

• B/E Aerospace Minipod (A330 & 777): Egyptair’s 777s and A330s are all equipped with B/E Aerospace Minipod seats in business class, which are in a 2-2-2 configuration on their A330s and are in a 2-3-2 configuration on their 777s. The seats unfortunately are not fully flat, as they incline downwards at a slight (though not too bad) angle. Because of this, I would avoid flying on their 777s and A330s on long-haul flights in business class if possible, as their 787s have much better seats. However, Egyptair does sometimes fly them on short to medium-haul flights, where they seats would be above average. The seats are similar to Emirates’ old 777-300 business class and Korean Air’s old A380/777/A330 business class.

• Collins Super Diamond (787): Egyptair’s 787s feature their best business class product, where they use the Rockwell Collins Super Diamond seat, which is among the most popular, albeit very generic, business class seats on the market. The seats are in a 1-2-1 reverse herringbone configuration, giving all passengers all aisle access and plenty of privacy with privacy partitions. The seats have large and modern IFE screens and of course are fully flat. They are similar to the business class seats onboard American Airlines’ new 787/777-200s, Aeromexico’s 787s, Saudia’s 787s and 777s, and Air Canada’s 777s & 787s (with many other airlines also using the same seats).

Featured Image: Alf van Beem/Wikimedia Commons