Mahrous: It is main gateway to Africa
By Mohamed Attia
Cairo Airport Company on May 18 celebrated the 60th anniversary of the official opening of Cairo International Airport
Board Chairman of the Egyptian Holding Company for Airports and Air Navigation Engineer Mohamed Saeed Mahrous congratulated all employees of the holding company and its subsidiaries on this occasion, which coincides with the issuance of the annual report on air traffic for the African continent in the year 2022.
Mahrous said that Cairo airport, which is one of the oldest in the region, is the only airport in Africa that has recovered and surpassed all passenger traffic for the year 2019.
Cairo airport also ranked first in passenger traffic, with around 20 million passengers. It occupies this position for the second year in a row.
Cairo International Airport also came in first place in the list of total international passenger traffic, as foreign passengers are the most frequent travellers to the African continent. In addition, Cairo International Airport ranked second in terms of aircraft movement for the year 2020 in the list of the top 10 African airports.
Mahrous also praised the role of Cairo airport’s employees since its official opening on May 18, 1963. Cairo airport has become the first gateway to Egypt and Africa, he said, stressing the importance of exerting more efforts to maintain such leadership and achieve more progress and prosperity.
Meanwhile, head of the Cairo Air Port Company, Magdy Ishak, said that Cairo International Airport has become one of the most important airports in the region, as it connects transit air traffic between east and west, and is the gateway to the African continent.
History of Cairo airport
On March 18, 1963, late president Gamal Abdel Nasser inaugurated the passenger terminal No. 1, which took nearly eight years to be designed and built.
The building continued to operate with high efficiency until the number of passengers hit around 1.268 million passengers in 1970. Due to the huge increase of inbound tourists to Egypt, the passenger terminal (No. 2 arrival) was established in 1977. Two years later, the terminal (No. 2 travel) was established.
The development work continued at Cairo Airport until the number of passengers reached 8.943 million in 2000, an increase of 22.3 per cent over 1980.
In 2004, a contract was signed for the implementation of Terminal No. 3, the largest project in expanding Cairo airport, as the need became urgent to increase the capacity of the airport after the huge rise in the number of passengers annually. In 2005, the number of passengers reached 10.218 million, an increase of 14.2 per cent compared to the year 2000.
In the same year, the distinguished Ahlan service was initiated, where the passengers enjoy great hospitality, with the completion of travel procedures without any hardship.
In 2010, the new control tower was opened to supervise the operational movement of the three runways. The tower can manage 120 flights per hour, and the new corridor was opened to receive the largest aircraft.
Due to the revival of travel and arrival traffic and its intensity at some times of the year, such as the Hajj and Umrah seasons, the seasonal flights building was opened in 2011 to be allocated to serve the guests and to relieve pressure on Travel Hall No. 1.
The DHL Building was also opened on an area of 10,000 square metres. It is the main hub for distribution in Africa and the Middle East, as the centre works to enhance re-export shipments from Europe to the countries of the region according to the latest international technologies that ensure the receipt and delivery of shipments at the highest levels of quality and speed.
In September 2016, Terminal 2 began operating after developing it and increasing the capacity to 7.5 million passengers annually, in a bid to raise the total capacity of Cairo International Airport to more than 28 million passengers a year.
Cairo International Airport won the International Excellence Award in Air Cargo for the years 2014-2015-2016, respectively.
The airport also got the first and most distinguished rank in Africa in air safety for the year 2017.
In 2016, Cairo International Airport has received the ISO 9001/2008 quality management system standard certification.
The Cairo airport got the certificate again in 2021, to become the first airport in the civil aviation sector obtaining the occupational safety and health certificate in the new version 2018.
The Cairo International Airport obtained the Public Health and Safety Readiness accreditation certificate presented by the Airports Council International (ACI) for three years, to become the first airport in Africa to receive this international accreditation. The Cairo airport authorities said this certificate is the culmination of their efforts to strengthen health and safety standards and support the airport operators.
