CAIRO: The first direct flight connecting Egypt and Iran in more than 30 years took off from Cairo International Airport yesterday, airport officials said.
The Air Memphis plane, chartered by Egyptian businessman Ramy Lakah, is the first direct flight between the capitals since the two countries severed ties after Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution. The flight, which was carrying the Iranian charge d’affaires and his family to Tehran, will then fly back to Egypt’s southern city of Aswan, airport officials said.
Egyptian officials said recently that scheduled charter flights between Iran and Egypt would be announced soon, but no date has yet been set. Civil Aviation Minister Wael El-Maadawy had said the flights would link the historic cities of Luxor, Aswan, and Abu Simbel in southern Egypt with the Islamic republic.
Earlier this month, Egypt and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding to promote tourism between the two countries. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the first Iranian president to visit Cairo in more than 30 years, was given a red-carpet welcome by Islamist President Mohammed Mursi when he arrived in February. AFP
