Ambassador Wael El Najjar and the Egyptian Embassy team in Portugal welcomed EgyptAir’s first direct flight from Cairo to Lisbon on the evening of July 23 at Lisbon International Airport. This marks the reopening of the route that had been suspended since 2011. The ceremony was attended by the EgyptAir office manager in Madrid, the head of the commercial sector at Portugal’s airport authority, and several airport officials, according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted on its official Facebook page.
The service will operate two weekly flights on Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout the current summer season, with plans to increase these flights during the winter season. This route is expected to open up a new tourism market for Egypt, particularly attracting tourists from Brazil, the United States, and Canada, which have numerous weekly flights to Lisbon.
EgyptAir has been expanding its international flight operations, including resuming previously halted routes and initiating new ones. For instance, EgyptAir has restarted its direct flights between Cairo and Bangkok, which had been paused due to the pandemic. This route began operating again in June 2024, facilitating travel between Egypt and Thailand’s capital.
Another significant development is the resumption of direct flights between Sanaa, Yemen, and Cairo, part of efforts to support peace initiatives and improve humanitarian access. These flights resumed under a UN-brokered truce and are meant to alleviate the suffering of the Yemeni people by facilitating easier travel and medical treatment opportunities in Egypt.
There are also ongoing discussions to resume direct flights between Tehran and Cairo. These talks, mediated by Iraq, have been progressing well and could lead to the reestablishment of direct flights within the next 45 days, further normalizing relations between Egypt and Iran after years of severed ties.
