WRITTEN BY JACK SLATER

Providing one of the most important gateways to Africa and The Middle East, Cairo International Airport plays a vital role in the global transport of peoples and cargo. Located at the crossroads of Africa, the Middle East, Europe and the Persian Gulf, it plays a role as a regional hub for millions of visitors to Egypt.

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To this end, they have recently finished the projects upon Runway

05R/23L and the new Control Tower to accommodate the increase

of future traffic development. Additional projects include enterting

the final stage of completion of the Seasonal Terminal aimed at

accommodating 3.5 million passengers per year, a three thousand

capacity Multi Story Carpark with the Automated people Mover for

transporting two thousand passengers/hour from T1 to T3. Further

ongoing developments include a five star Hotel and an Extended

Metro Line linking Cairo Airport with Giza.

Cairo International is the second busiest airport in Africa after

OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa. Over

forty five passenger airlines use Cairo airport (including charter

airlines) and nine cargo airlines. EgyptAir is the largest operator at

the airport.

It is administered together with other airport facilities by

EHCAAN (Egyptian Holding Company for Airports and Air

Navigation). Management is through contractual arrangements,

currently held by Fraport AG. Started as a naval base, it was after the

Second World War that Cairo Airport started to take shape. After the

American Forces commanding the base had left after the end of the

war, it was taken over by the Civil Aviation Authority for global civil

aviation purposes but it wasn’t until 1963 that Cairo International

Airport earned its title after replacing Heliopolis, the old airport,

located along the Hike-Step region in the eastern part of Cairo.

By 2009 Cairo Airport was able to serve about 14.4 million

passengers, a sizeable percentage increase from the previous year.

It also handled about 143,000 movements of aircrafts in the same

year, also a strategic increase from the previous year. The tonnage of

airfreight passing through the airport was about 275,000. Amidst this

statistics, Cairo Airport still comes second in Africa in terms of busy

airport activity.

There are more than 65 airlines using the airport, as well as nine

cargo and charter airline. EgyptAir has the largest chunk of operations

in the airport taking up to 61 percent of all departure slots. After

EgyptAir was assimilated into the lucrative Star Alliance carrier, Cairo

Airport has been poised to become the chief hub of major destinations

from Africa, Europe and the Middle East, since it has A380 facilities

among other major utilities.

CAIRO AIRPORT

The Ministry of Civil Aviation along with the Egyptian Holding Company for Airports and Air Navigation and the Cairo Airport Company have embarked on a long-term development plan to upgrade and modernize its facilities, increase its capacities and set a new standard of service in the region.

Cairo Airport’s mission is to become a passenger and cargo

hub for the Middle East North Africa region (MENA).

The plan is to achieve the top levels of service by rising

to global competitive levels and gradually applying air transport

liberalization policies. Part of the airport’s strategy includes working

closely with Egypt Air, which joined the Star Alliance group, as well

as its partner airlines. The openings of the 211,000 m2 Terminal

3 doubled the capacity of the current facilities to 22 million annual

passengers.

2002 saw the beginning of the ambitious plan to upgrade Egypt’s

civil aviation facilities which continues with the renovation of Terminal

One’s VIP Lounges and Terminal Two was recomissioned. The aim is

to make them ready to host 8.5 million international passengers per

year.

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ProjectsA number of projects are underway to enable Cairo to compete

with Dubai as a transit destination, according to the Minister of Civil

Aviation Abdel Aziz Fadhel.

Speaking at the Euromoney Conference 2013, Fadhel said a 350-

room hotel attached to the Cairo International Airport is currently

under construction and is part of the ministry’s EGP 6bn backlog.

“Such a hotel will help promote the airport as a transit alternative”

to Dubai and boost the number of transit travelers amounting to

currently 30% of total arrivals”, he said.

Fadhel added that expansions to the airport with the goal of

increasing its capacity from the current annual 21 million passengers

are in the pipeline, as well as an unspecified “mega-project” to be set

up over a 10 million square metre area that he said would create

100,000 new jobs.

New Attractions And The 50 Year Anniversary – Golden Jubilee

To celebrate its half centinneriary the Ministry of Civil Aviation &

Cairo Airport company celebrated with The Golden Jubilee for Cairo

Airport Company. This was on the occasion of the 5th anniversary for

Cairo Airport Company that was established in 1963.

Another attraction for both leisure and business travelers is the

new ‘5 Star Hotel’ which has been built in front the new terminal

and linked with an air-conditioned, 230m long skyway that is also

equipped with moving walkway/travelators. The Hotel will offer, on a

total of 10,000 sqm of land assigned for the facility, opportunities for

Conferences, Business Meetings and simply the highest comfort. The

Hotel will include 350 Rooms and will be managed by “Le Meridien.

In addition to offering more choice and flexibility ARINC’s

unrivalled technical expertise and customer-first policy has

led to numerous Airport Systems integration contracts in the

Middle East where one of its biggest projects was Terminal

3 at Cairo International Airport. The company delivered,

installed and integrated a suite of 14 specialist information-

handling systems, many of which were later extended to

the new Seasonal Flights Terminal and Automated People

Mover (APM) Stations.

In partnership with AVIT, ARINC expanded its customer base

in 2013 with the award of an Egyptian Airports Company

contract covering five Regional Airports including Sharm El

Sheikh, Luxor, Borg El Arab, Aswan and Abu Simbel.

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