EGYPTAIR celebrates 80th anniversary

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Category: Trade, marketing, public relations

Created on Friday, 11 May 2012 08:31

Written by Darna

[►]On May 7th 2012, EGYPTAIR celebrated its 80th anniversary. EGYPTAIR is one of the projects established by the national economy figure Talaat Harb's. It was founded according to a Royal Decree on May 7th 1932 as the first airline in the Middle East, Africa and the Arab Region and the 7th airline in the world.

The first Board consisted of five Egyptian members and three British members. The company was given two names one in Arabic the other in English and it was "MISR AIRWORK".

The company commenced its activities by providing training and air services. In 1933 it inked a contract to purchase two aircraft type de Havilland Dragon 84 to start operating regular routes. The first commercial flights took off from Cairo to Alexandria and Marsa Matrouh and the first international route was Cairo-Palestine in 1934. In the year 1935, five aircraft were added to the fleet to cover 7 cities in the Middle East and in 1936 it was the first airline to land in Medina, Saudi Arabia.

1948 7 hostesses were appointed for the first time on its aircraft. In 1949 the name of Misr Airwork was changed to EgyptAir. After 1952's revolution; new era started as the revolutionary regime paid great interest to EGYPTAIR and contributed to its capital to jump from 300,000 L.E to 1,000000 L.E. Five years later, in 1975 EGYPTAIR celebrated its Silver Jubilee by the graduation of 1029 general pilots and 278 commercial pilots in addition to 35 aviation instructors from EGYPTAIR Institute.

In 1960 EGYPTAIR was merged with the Syrian Airlines under the name "UNITED ARAB AIRLINES". By its 30th anniversary, the Republican Decree no. 2056 / 1962 restructured EGYPTAIR to become a state-owned company and turned it into "The General Arab Foundation for Air Transportation".

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The main hub was Almazah Airport in 1932 and in 1956 became the Old Cairo Airport then moved to the current Cairo Airport in March 18th 1963. The duty free markets in the main arrival hall, Cairo Airport were opened by the year 1967 with a capital of 25,000 L.E as international precedence in the field of the duty free markets. In 1969 EGYPTAIR became the first airline to operate B-707 beside the Russian aircraft types.

The main hub was Almazah Airport in 1932 and in 1956 became the Old Cairo Airport then moved to the current Cairo Airport in March 18th 1963. The duty free markets in the main arrival hall, Cairo Airport were opened by the year 1967 with a capital of 25,000 L.E as international precedence in the field of the duty free markets. In 1969 EGYPTAIR became the first airline to operate B-707 beside the Russian aircraft types.

In July 1970, EGYPTAIR operated "comet 4c" type on the route Cairo-London as the longest route at that time. On January 5th 1971 a Republican Decree established the Ministry of Civil Aviation for the first time when EGYPTAIR became under the supervision of the ministry. By the end of 1970s EGYPTAIR witnessed a great leap in the infrastructure and developed its fleet.

In January 1977, EGYPTAIR opened the Aviation Services Complex as the biggest and most advanced in the Middle East this step was followed by signing a contract to establish the Cargo Village in October 1978. During the period from 1980 to 2000 EGYPTAIR's assets exceeded millions of Egyptian pounds and its route network managed to go beyond the Middle East, Africa and Europe to cover the most important capital cities in the different continents

In July 2002, the Republican Decree no. 137 turned EGYPTAIR into a Holding Company with 9 subsidiaries EGYPTAIR AIRLINES, EGYPTAIR CARGO, EGYPTAIR MAINTENANCE & ENGINEERING, EGYPTAIR IN-FLIGHT SERVICES, EGYPTAIR GROUND SERVICE, EGYPTAIR TOURISM (KARNAK) & DURTY FREE, EGYPTAIR MEDICAL SERVICES, EGYPTAIR supplementary INDUSTRIES and recently EGYPTAIR EXPRESS.

In July 2008, EGYPTAIR became the 21st full member of STAR ALLIANCE which includes 26 renowned international airlines. Being a member in STAR ALLIANCE gives more advantages to EGYPTAIR customers as the alliance's network covers 1290 destination in 189 countries around the world. EGYPTAIR and the alliance members operate their flights from the state-of-the-art Terminal 3 which keeps pace with the modern aircraft that joined the company's fleet recently to reach 79 aircraft till now.

Source: Egyptair Middle East

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