On June 18, Canadian national flag carrier, Air Canada, flew its inaugural non-stop flight from Montreal to Cairo, Egypt. It used a 255-seat Boeing 787-800 aircraft and the flight took over ten hours. This flight is the first year-round service that introduces three flights per week between Cairo International Airport (CAI) and Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL).
These flights will operate every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, returning to Canada on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. Apart from offering this Star Alliance member a new entry point into the African market, the new non-stop service will offer an integral link for the growing Egyptian community that has settled in and around Montreal.
Cairo Is A Great Add For Air Canada
Mark Galardo, the Senior Vice President, Network Planning and Revenue Management of Air Canada, while commenting on the new flight between Montreal and Cairo, said:
“Air Canada is pleased to offer its first scheduled flights to Egypt. We are strategically rebuilding our international network by adding new routes that support leisure and visiting friends and family travel. With few non-stop options to Egypt from North America, we see opportunities to launch new non-stop flights to Cairo from Montreal, where there is an established Egyptian community.”
“We have also built convenient connections to and from our Cairo flights from across Canada and the US at our Montreal hub. This new route shows our commitment to rebuilding our international network and our Montreal hub, which have been dramatically affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
This Montreal to Cairo flights will operate using the following schedule:
Flight number AC74 is expected to depart Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL) at exactly 17:50 and arrive at the Cairo International Airport (CAI) at 10:15 plus a day on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
On the other hand, Flight number AC75 will depart Cairo International Airport (CAI) at exactly 12:00 and arrive at Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL) at around 17:00 on a Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday.
Travelers Can Connect With Egyptair
These flights have been timed to optimize connectivity throughout Air Canada’s North American network. Also, the new route will enable Air Canada passengers arriving in the Egyptian capital to connect on various Egyptair flights to the following destinations:
- Luxor International Airport (LXR)
- Sharm El Sheikh International Airport (SSH)
- Aswan International Airport (ASW)
- Hurghada International Airport (HRG)
- Bahrain International Airport (BAH)
- Queen Alia International Airport (AMM)
Egyptair is a Star Alliance member and it already codeshares with Air Canada on the Montreal to Cairo flight. On this ten-and-a-half-hour Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner flight, Air Canada will offer 3 classes of service. The services include the signature class, premium economy, and economy class.
Today our inaugural flight from #Montreal to #Cairo landed in the Egyptian capital as we begin to rebuild our global network with focus on leisure, and visiting friends and family travel.
More: https://t.co/168aFvxlNv pic.twitter.com/J9X9e7mDZl
— Air Canada (@AirCanada) June 18, 2021
All of the Air Canada flights that will be arriving and departing from Cairo International Airport (CAI) will work out of Terminal 3, which is designated for Star Alliance flights. While responding to questions from the Daily News reporters, Jasmine Wahhab, the Commercial Counsellor and Senior Trade Commissioner at the Embassy of Canada to Egypt, said:
“This new direct route to Egypt, a growing economic and industrial hub steeped in history and culture, confirms Montreal’s standing as a vibrant world-class city and Montréal-Trudeau International Airport status as a prime gateway to North America.”
“The non-stop year-round Montreal to Cairo link will also facilitate the expansion of Canadian companies in the robust Egyptian market, enabling them to secure major commercial opportunities in key industry sectors, such as ICT, agri-food, clean-tech, mining, and transportation. Air Canada became the only airline based in the Americas to fly directly to Egypt.”
Egypt Is Ready For Tourists
This Air Canada non-stop flight to Cairo is the only one that is operated by any North American airline. Nonetheless, Egyptair does offer a non-stop flight between New York and Cairo.
Maybe due to the pandemic, the first flight had only 150 passengers aboard. That might change as the summer months come in with Egypt opening up for more tourism activities. In the coming weeks, the requirement for traveling will be a visa and proof of a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours before arriving in the North African country.
