EgyptAir is the state-owned flag carrier of Egypt. The airline is headquartered at Cairo International Airport, its main hub, operating scheduled passenger and freight services to 84 international and nine domestic destinations across 56 countries in Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas, as of June 2026. Egyptair is a member of Star Alliance, and is the only carrier based in the MENA region to belong to the alliance.
Early years: Misr Airwork (1932–1949)
When Alan Muntz, chairman of Airwork Services, visited Egypt in 1931, he revealed plans to establish new airline, Misr Airwork, with Miṣr (مصر) Arabic for "Egypt". On 31 December 1931, the government granted the company exclusivity in air transport operations. A division of Misr Airwork named Misr Airlines was established on 7 June 1932, ″to promote the spirit of aviation among Egyptian youth″, becoming the seventh carrier in the world at that time. The headquarters of Misr Airwork, S.A.E. was in Almaza Aerodrome, Heliopolis, Cairo.
The initial investment was £E20,000, with ownership split between the Misr Bank (85%), Airwork (10%), and Egyptian private investors (5%). Operations started in July 1933, initially linking Cairo with Alexandria and Mersa Matruh using de Havilland DH.84 Dragon equipment. By August that year, the frequency on the Cairo–Alexandria service had been boosted to twice-daily. In late 1933, a twice-weekly Cairo–Aswan flight that called at Asyut and Luxor was inaugurated. Via Port Said, a flight from Cairo that served Lydda, Haifa and Gaza was launched in 1934. On 3 August 1935, a test service via Lydda with a final destination in Nicosia began using de Havilland D.H.86 aircraft; the service was terminated on 20 October that year. The Alexandria–Port Said–Cairo–Minia–Assiut route was opened in late 1935. During 1935, the airline carried 6,990 passengers and 21,830 kilograms (48,130 lb) of freight; for the year, these regular services flew 419,467 miles (675,067 km).
The Alexandria–Assiut route, which called at Port Said, Cairo and Minia, and the Cairo–Cyprus–Haifa–Baghdad run were the two operative services the carrier had by 1936. Hadj flights commenced in 1937. Operations to Cyprus resumed in 1938 with a Cairo–Lydda–Haifa–Larnaka service. The carrier operated all-British aircraft in the early years, and by April 1939 the fleet comprised one D.H. Dragon, one D.H. Dragonfly, five D.H. Rapìdes, two D.H.86s and one D.H.86B that worked on the Alexandria–Cairo, Alexandria–Port Said–Cairo–Minia–Assiut, Cairo–Assiut–Luxor–Assuan, Cairo–Lydda–Haifa–Baghdad and Cairo–Port Said–Lydda–Haifa routes. The Egyptian government took over all the routes in September 1939. In 1940, a service to Beirut and Palestine was started. Three Avro 19s were incorporated into the fleet in 1944. Three accidents that took place in late 1945 prompted strikes for a fleet renewal and caused operations to come to a total halt since February 1946; services resumed in May, and by late 1946 the fleet included four Avro Ansons, one Beech AT-11, five Beech C-45s, four de Havilland D.H.89 Dragon Rapides and two North American AT-6 Texan. The carrier benefited from the Allies' regional aircraft disposal station that sold surplus military aircraft being located in Egypt. Two more Beech C-45s were delivered in 1947, and the Vickers Viking was incorporated in 1948. In May 1949, all the capital and the aircraft park was acquired by the government. After the Egyptian state became the sole shareholder, the company changed its name to Misrair SAE.
Misrair continued to fly the same routes as under the new name. In 1951, three Languedocs were acquired; these were intended for deployment on longer routes. The Languedocs replaced the Vikings on flights to Geneva, Khartoum, and Tehran.
On 1 December 1952 Misrair took over the domestic competitor Services Aériens Internationaux d'Égypte (SAIDE) and thus ended the flight operations of this airline. Only the successful route Cairo-Tunis was carried over to Misrair's own route network.
Three Vickers Viscounts were ordered in early 1954. During that year, the carrier transported 64,539 passengers. At March 1955, Misrair's fleet comprised one Beechcraft, three Languedocs and seven Vikings; the three Viscounts were still pending delivery. Douglas DC-3s were subsequently purchased and deployed on domestic routes, as well as to neighbouring Arab countries. Delivery of the first two Viscounts occurred in December 1955; they were put into service in March 1956. Eight months later on 1 November 1956, one Viscount (SU-AIC) was written off while parked at Almaza Airport due to an air-raid by the RAF during the Suez Crisis The number of passengers transported during 1955 had grown to 77050. In February 1957, Misrair was renamed United Arab Airlines. Late that year, two more Viscounts were ordered at a cost of £600,000–800,000, including spares.
United Arab Airlines (1957–1971)
Following the formation of the United Arab Republic by Egypt and Syria on 1 February 1958, Misrair was renamed United Arab Airlines (UAA) in March that year. A Cairo–Athens–Rome–Zürich service was launched on 7 July; Syrian Airways merged into UAA on 23 December, with the latter absorbing both the routes and the equipment of the Syrian carrier. By March 1960, the airline had 579 employees. At that time, the fleet comprised one Beech Model 18, four DC-3s, six Vikings and six Viscounts. One of the Viscounts crashed into the Mediterranean on 10 April, killing 17 passengers and a crew of three. With registration SU-ALC, the first of three Comet 4Cs was delivered on 9 June. Operations using two of these aircraft started on 16 July the same year. By October 1960, Misrair had Comets deployed on the Cairo–Belgrade–Prague, Cairo–Rome–London, Cairo–Jeddah and Cairo–Khartoum runs, DC-3s on the Cairo–Alexandria–Mersa Matruh, Cairo–Assiut–Luxor, Cairo–Luxor–Aswan and Cairo–Port Said–Alexandria services, and Viscounts were used for the non-stop flights that linked Cairo and Alexandria. An order for two more Comets was placed in November 1960. Syria's association with UAA ended in October 1961, when Syrian Arab Airways was established by the Syrian government in Damascus; the route network and fleet that had been taken over by UAA were returned to the new company.
Two more Comets, the fourth and fifth ones, were ordered in early 1961. Three ex-SAS DC-6s were purchased in April 1961. The Cairo–Lagos run was extended to Accra on 12 June and flights to Moscow commenced on 21 June. A contract with Boeing for the purchase of Boeing 707-320B with delivery dates between November 1961 and April 1964 was signed; the deal fell through when the airline could not find financing. On 1 November, a new flight to Karachi and Bombay was launched, and the sixth and seventh Comets were ordered in December; these were delivered in April 1962. Also in 1961, the Cairo–Nicosia run, suspended since the Suez Crisis in 1956, was restored, flown with Viscount equipment. Routed via Bangkok and Hong Kong, the Bombay service was extended to Tokyo in May 1962. The three-strong crew of a DC-3 that crashed at Heliopolis on 16 May 1962 died, and 26 more people perished in an accident involving a Comet at Bangkok on 19 July the same year. Two more Comets were acquired in August, entering the fleet in September the same year and during 1963. On 15 February 1963, the route to Baghdad was resumed after a three-year hiatus, but the service was short-lived, as political tensions between Egypt, Iraq and Syria forced the disruption of flights to both this destination and to Damascus; on 1 April, a new service to Rhodesia was inaugurated. On 12 May 1963 a DC-3 crashed near Alexandria, killing 27 passengers and a crew of four and on 28 July 1963, a Comet crashed into the ocean near Bombay, killing 62. Short of aircraft to serve Tokyo, the route was terminated. Also, another Comet, SU-ALM, resulted damaged in Benghazi on 12 September, the ninth and final Comet was delivered in 1964. Also that year, three ex-Pan Am DC-6Bs were purchased, and another three were acquired from Northwest Orient; these aircraft were put on service on domestic routes and began replacing the Viscounts. Also aimed at operating domestic services, seven Antonov An-24s were ordered for US$2.3 million.