The Ministry of Civil Aviation has turned down a number of requests by foreign and Arab airlines to operate regular flights into Cairo International Airport. “A third of the airport space is currently closed for expansion works,” explained Ibrahim Manna, director of the state-run Airports Holding Company. “We can't grant more landing rights at the moment.” “However, we welcome additional flights to any of Egypt's other 21 regional airports,” Manna added. In a related development, Airbus Middle East President Habib Fekih has said that Egypt needed 100 large-size planes of the 1418 required by all the countries of the region, according to a study conducted by Airbus devoted to air traffic in the Middle East in the coming decade. Fekih went on to note that there were four airports in Africa that were currently capable of receiving the Airbus 380, including an airport in South Africa and three airports in Egypt, namely, the Cairo, Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada international airports. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
