Civil Aviation Minister Mohamed Abbas Helmy and Japanese Ambassador to Egypt Oka Hiroshi witnessed a ceremony marking the launch of the first EgyptAir flight from Cairo airport to Tokyo's Narita airport after a three-year hiatus over the repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic.
Helmy thanked the Japanese government and ambassador as well as all bodies concerned with re-operating the direct air route between the two sides.
He said that this promotes economic, investment and trade relations and will help boost tourism in Egypt, especially as the Grand Egyptian Museum will be inaugurated soon.
Helmy noted that Egypt and Japan collaborated to build the first eco-friendly terminal which will be inaugurated in Alexandria's Borg El Arab airport in the beginning of 2024.
For his part, the Japanese ambassador expressed happiness for re-operating the direct flights.
He noted that the Egyptian national carrier will operate one flight each week between Cairo and Tokyo. The departure from Cairo will be every Thursday and the return flight will be on Fridays, he said. As of early November two weekly flights will be operated from Cairo on the same route on Thursdays and Saturdays with the return flights to be on Fridays and Sundays, he added.
EgyptAir distributed gifts among passengers marking the occasion, noting that this falls within the framework of Egypt's efforts to activate tourism in order to reach a target of 30 million tourists by 2030.
Source: State Information Service Egypt