Mohamed Attia
By Mohamed Attia
Cairo International Airport celebrated this month the 59th anniversary of its opening, as it was officially opened for business on May 18, 1963.
For his part, Minister of Civil Aviation Mohamed Manar congratulated the employees of the Cairo Airport Company, noting that Cairo airport is one of the oldest airports in Egypt, Africa and the Middle East.
In addition, it is the civilized interface and the first gateway to Egypt and Africa.
The minister also stressed the importance of concerted efforts and providing the highest level of services in order to advance and upgrade the airport and all Egyptian airports in a manner befitting the position that Egypt enjoys in the field of civil aviation.
Mohamed Saeed Mahrous, President of the Egyptian Holding Company for Airports and Air Navigation, congratulated the employees of the Cairo Airport Company on this occasion.
He also praised the efforts of the workers at Cairo International Airport during those long years in preserving Egypt’s first gate and its civilized facade in front of its guests from all countries of the world.
Mahrous added that Cairo International Airport, since its official opening, has witnessed many development processes, as the airport’s capacity has increased to more than 28 million passengers annually at the present time, thus occupying a distinguished position on the map of international airports, especially in the Middle East and Africa in terms of the volume of traffic and services provided to passengers and airlines.
Meanwhile, Magdy Ishaq, head of the Cairo Airport Company, said that Cairo International Airport has become one of the most important airports in the region, as it is a pivotal airport linking transit traffic between East and West, and is the gateway to the African continent.
Airport History
On March 18, 1963, late President Gamal Abdel Nasser inaugurated the trial opening of the passenger building No. 1, which took nearly eight years to design and implement, and the building continued to operate with high efficiency until the number of passengers in 1970 reached 1.268 million.
The Passenger Terminal (No. 2 Arrival) was established, and in 1977, two years later, the Terminal (No. 2 Travel) was established.
Development work continued at Cairo airport until the number of passengers reached 8.943 million passengers in 2000, for the first time since the establishment of the airport, with an increase of 22.3% over 1980.
In 2004, the contract for the implementation of Terminal 3 was signed, the largest project in the field of expanding Cairo airport, as the need became urgent to increase the airport’s capacity after the huge number of passengers increased annually.
In 2005, the number of passengers reached 10.218 million, an increase of 14.2% over the year 2000. The International Arrival Hall No. 3 of Terminal 1 was also opened.
In the same year, the distinguished Ahlan service was opened, where the passenger enjoys the atmosphere of authentic Arab hospitality in the Ahlan lounges, with the completion of travel procedures without any hardship.
In 2010, the new control tower was opened, to control the operational movement of the three corridors, and the tower can manage 120 flights per hour, and the new corridor was opened to receive the largest aircraft.
In view of the revival of travel and arrival traffic and its intense intensity at some times of the year, such as the Hajj and Umrah season, the seasonal flights building was opened in 2011 to be allocated to serve the pilgrims in travel and access to relieve pressure on the travel hall No. 1 from which the Hajj and Umrah flights were taking off from EgyptAir besides other companies.
The DHL building was inaugurated on an area of 10,000 square meters, and the center is the main hub for distribution in Africa and the Middle East, as the center works to enhance sorting and re-export shipments from Europe to the countries of the region.
The new center includes the latest international technologies that guarantee the receipt and delivery of shipments at the highest levels of quality and speed.
In 2015, the electronic passport gates were opened, where 4 electronic gates were installed, which is an optional service for a fee in exchange for it allowing the passenger to complete the passport procedures during his travel and arrival in a few minutes, which saves time and effort for the service user.
In December 2015, the Cairo Airport Museum was opened with the aim of promoting ancient Egyptian civilization.
In September 2016, the operation of Terminal 2 began after its development and increase in capacity to 7.5 million passengers annually to raise the total capacity of Cairo International Airport to more than 28 million passengers annually.
Cairo International Airport has won the International Excellence Award in Air Cargo “Best Airport in Africa” for the years 2014, 2015 and 2016, respectively
It also ranked first and most distinguished in Africa in air safety for the year 2017.
In 2016, Cairo International Airport obtained the integrated ISO certificates in environment, quality, safety and occupational health, and the grants were returned in 2021 for the Cairo Airport Company to become the first company in the civil aviation sector that obtained the occupational safety and health certificate in the new version 2018.
Cairo airport was also awarded, according to the ACI annual report, the best airport in air cargo in 2019.
Cairo International Airport also renewed the “International Health Accreditation for Safe Travel” certificate, which is granted by the Airports Council International (ACI) within the International Program for Airport Health Accreditation (AHA), through which the implementation of the precautionary and preventive measures followed at the airport to maintain the safety of travelers and workers is monitored.
Discussion about this post