Cairo International Airport

Airport Code- CAI
Address- Oruba، Road، El Nozha, Cairo Governorate, Egypt

Cairo Airport is one of the most important places in the city and a mainstay for EgyptAir. The busiest airport is situated in the northeastern part of Cairo, but it is considerably close to the business capital and easy to travel via various easy transportation. The distance between Cairo International Airport and the capital area is nearly 15 km (9.3 mi) and you can cover it via any transport.

See also Cairo Transportation

The 2nd Busiest Airport

By default, the Cairo International Airport is the busiest airport in Egypt and the second busiest one after the Johannesburg International in South Africa. The number of passengers travelling to and from this airport is surprising and the numbers kept increasing over the years. Cairo International Airport deals with around 40 million passengers every year from its three separate terminals. The airport has three runways and a single terminal dedicated to Cargo.

Airlines to and from Cairo Airport

Aegean Airlines, Air Algérie, Aeroflot, Air Arabia, Air France, Air Sinai, Air Malta, Asiana Airlines, Badr Airlines, AlMasria Universal Airlines, British Airways, Bulgarian Air Charter, EgyptAir, Ethiopian Airlines, FlyBaghdad, Iraqi Airways, Jordan Aviation, Korean Air, Kuwait Airways, Lufthansa, Nesma Airlines, Royal Jordanian, Syrian Air, and many others.

Destinations to and from Cairo Airport

Abha, Abidjan,  Abu Simbel, Abu Dhabi, Abuja,  Accra,  Algiers, Amman–Queen Alia, Amsterdam, Addis Ababa, Alexandria–Borg el Arab, Asmara, Assiut, Aswan, Athens, Barcelona, Beijing–Capital, Beirut, Baghdad, Bahrain, Bangkok–Suvarnabhumi, Berlin–Schönefeld, Casablanca, Brussels, Budapest.

Copenhagen,  Douala, Dubai–International Entebbe, Dammam, Dar es Salaam,  Erbil,  Geneva, Guangzhou, Frankfurt, Gassim, Hangzhou, Hong Kong, Jeddah, Johannesburg–O.R. Tambo, Juba, Hurghada, Istanbul, Kigali, Kuwait, Kano, Khartoum, Lagos.

Luxor, Madrid, Larnaca, London–Heathrow, Marsa Alam,  Moscow–Domodedovo, Mumbai, Medina, Milan–Malpensa,  Munich, N'Djamena, New York–JFK, Muscat, Nairobi–Jomo Kenyatta, Paris–Charles de Gaulle,  Sharm El Sheikh, Riyadh, Rome–Fiumicino, Sharjah, Sohag,  Tunis, Vienna, Tokyo–Narita, Toronto–Pearson, Washington–Dulles.

Terminals

The operating contract for Terminal 1 and 2 in Cairo International Airport was given to Société Internationale de Télécommunications Aéronautiques (SITA) of Switzerland and Fraport of Germany got the contract for terminal 3. It is only fair when you know some of the important details about the terminals of this airport.

★ Terminals 1 and 2

Terminal 1 was introduced in the 1963 and terminal 2 in 1984, they both have the capacity of handle an unthinkable number of passengers, which sums up to terminal 1 handling 6.5 million and terminal 2 has the capacity of handle 3.5 million passengers annually.

Terminal 1 had around 12 gates, out of which, three are double-level that are used by large aircraft and required bus transfers. Terminal 2 has around seven gates, which consist of ten passenger-boarding bridges.

There are other facilities in terminal 1 and 2, and you can get Wi-Fi services in almost all places inside. It also holds 131 aircraft standards.

★ Terminal 3

The terminal 3 was inaugurated in 2009, the terminal was given 23 gates out which 2 were set to be used for Airbus. You must be surprised, but after the construction of terminal 3, Cairo introduced the Biometric gate system in the airport. This terminal is connected in an adjacent way to the other terminals. The terminal is considered a little different from the other 2, it has 3 main buildings with three levels with an area of 164,000m2 (41 acres).

Terminal 3 is designed to welcome international and domestic services, and Airbuses are allowed in the two piers. The fact that after the opening of Terminal 3, the airport doubled the capacity of passengers and received over 22 million passengers annually. The terminal has duty free shops and other important facilities for the passengers.

★ Seasonal Terminal

Apart from these 3 terminals in Cairo Airport, the place also introduced a seasonal terminal recently in the year 2011 around September. This terminal serves the purpose to deal with a seasonal rush during Hajj serving the Egypt Air Seasonal and Jeddah/Madinah flights, the seasonal terminal has a capacity to handle around 1,200 passengers every hour and this serves for the better in all rush seasons.

Other Airport Facilities

Food: If it’s about food, you will be able to have various options in the Cairo Airport, which includes an extended range of cafes, fast-food restaurants and more. There are few in the departure area of terminal 1 and 3 that are open around the clock.

Money: You will easily be able to draw money from any terminal in Cairo Airport; terminal 1, 2 and 3 runs 24-hour bureaux de change service.

Shopping: If you forgot to buy a souvenir from Egypt, no problem, Cairo Airport has various duty free stores where you can find clothes, shops, bookshops, gifts, and other items in the departure hall.

See also What to Buy in Cairo

Luggage: There are all kinds of requirements available at the airport, baggage trolleys, and porters. You can also find a lost and found in both terminals.

Other: for the convenience of the passengers, there are various tour operators and travel agencies present to help you book for a relevant tour or transportation around the city.

Future Potential: Like every other country, Egypt is also working on making some huge changes in the second busiest airport by developing a cargo facility in the airport. They are naming it the CCC( Cairo Cargo City). This is some serious future vision that will help the airport grow bigger and stronger in the years to come.

Public Transport

Shuttle: Shuttle bus is the easiest way to travel and it connects the airport with the Heliopolis and the central Cairo, it takes about 45 minutes and will cost you around 23LE.

Taxi: This is one of the best ways to travel, and covers the distance in less time. The travel time would be around 30 minutes and it will cost you as reasonable as 80LE.

The Cairo Airport functions over 65 airlines, along with nine cargo and charter airlines. This information will help you benefit from the facilities available at the airport and decide the best possible departure or arrival plan to the heart of Egypt.