Milan Bergamo Airport has secured the arrival of Air Arabia Egypt and marked the inaugural of the Egyptian low-cost carrier’s first European service from its base at Borg Al Arab. Already served by the airline’s sister carrier Air Arabia Maroc from Casablanca, the twice-weekly Egyptian link makes a welcome appearance on the Italian gateway’s route map again after a four-year hiatus.
Celebrating the significant link from the Egyptian hub with Air Arabia CEO Adel Abdullah Ali, Air Arabia Egypt CEO Gamal Abdel Nasser, and Air Arabia Maroc CEO Laila Mechbal, SACBO’s Director of Commercial Aviation Giacomo Cattaneo remarks: “It’s a great moment to welcome Air Arabia Egypt to our airport. We’ve worked closely with the carrier to open a direct link to Borg Al Arab and, alongside Air Arabia Maroc’s service to Morocco, the airline group as a whole will offer 70,000 two-way seats from our gateway this summer.” He added: “To be able to offer the vast Egyptian community in Milan and Northern Italy an alternative to existing flights to Egypt we’re hopeful, given the high demand, that it won’t be long before there will be further announcements with the carriers.”
Initially launching the first direct route from its base in Alexandria to the Milan area in 2011, the Air Arabia-associated carrier’s reopening of the link to Egypt sees the African nation leap ahead of Norway, Estonia, Serbia and Moldova to become Milan Bergamo’s 29th largest country market served.
As the only Egyptian service from the densely populated catchment area of Milan Bergamo, Air Arabia Egypt faces no direct competition on the airport pair, utilising its fleet of 174-seat Airbus A320s on the 2,380-kilometre sector.
Air Arabia Egypt flies to 7 destinations from its Alexandria base with its two A320s.