Archive for Cairo airport

New domestic flight routes to begin 20 December

by admin
December 2nd, 2012

New flight routes will be begin operating on 20 December, to cover all regions of the country at lowered prices, Civil Aviation Minister Samir Embaby Metwaly said Sunday.

“It will have a positive impact on tourism,” Metwaly said, pointing out that the government signed a contract for LE75 million with an investor to begin the flights.

In a press conference after meeting with Prime Minister Hesham Qandil, Metwaly said and Qandil reviewed the new projects being undertaken by the ministry, such as the expansion of Cairo International Airport and Hurghada Airport, the latter of which he said would be the third-largest airport in Africa after Cairo Airport and Johannesburg Airport.

“Our forecast for the Christmas season was adversely affected,” he said. “Many charter flights were canceled.”

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Israeli envoy arrives in Cairo for talks

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November 26th, 2012

An Israeli envoy arrived in Cairo on Monday to meet with Egyptian security officials about the Egypt-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that ended the assault on the Gaza Strip last week.

The envoy heads a small delegation which would focus on obstacles to a lasting truce, said a source that received them at the Cairo airport.

The source refused to reveal the identity of the envoy, saying only that he is a “security official sent by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”

Israel breached the ceasefire two days after it went into effect when it shot across the Gaza border on Friday, killing one Palestinian and wounding others, medics reported.

A Hamas spokesperson accused Israel of violating the truce and said the group would complain to Cairo.

Last Wednesday’s ceasefire deal ended an eight-day onslaught against Gaza that left 163 Palestinians and six Israelis dead.

Edited translation from DPA

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Cairo airport prepares for Israeli ambassador’s return

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November 26th, 2012

Cairo International Airport authorities adopted tight security measures Monday at the airport VIP lounge, preparing for the arrival of the Israeli ambassador to Cairo.

Ambassador Yaakov Amitai had left for Tel Aviv more than 10 days ago following the start of the Israeli military campaign against the Gaza Strip.

A source told German news agency DPA that the Israeli Embassy in Cairo had notified the airport that Amitai would arrive with eight staff members on an Air Sinai flight.

The ambassador was previously scheduled to return Sunday, the source told DPA, adding that airport authorities predicted he might have postponed his arrival because of the recent political tensions that followed President Mohamed Morsy’s declaration of new presidential powers.

Relations have grown more complicated between Cairo and Tel Aviv following the 25 January revolution, which toppled former President Hosni Mubarak and brought Morsy, an Islamist, to power.

Morsy had backed Palestinian militant group Hamas during the Israeli military campaign that started on 14 November with the assassination of Hamas military leader Ahmed al-Jabari. Prime Minister Hesham Qandil had visited Gaza to voice solidarity with Palestinians.

Many in Egypt have been calling for repealing the peace treaty signed by both countries in 1979, after Israel killed at least six Egyptian security officers in a border raid in August 2011.
 

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Airport authorities foil attempt to smuggle artifacts

by admin
October 7th, 2012

The Antiquities Ministry said that Cairo Airport authorities thwarted an attempt to smuggle four artifacts dating back to the Islamic era.

Antiquities Minister Mohammed Ibrahim, said in a statement on Sunday that the four artifacts seized at Cairo airport were in a package and bound for the United Arab Emirates. The statement did not specify the nationality of the person.

He added that an antiquities committee has examined the four artifacts and proved their origin.

The seized artifacts also include three paintings of porcelain with Islamic writings, ornaments, a copper candlestick, and a metal watch with engraved with winged angels and fairy animals.

In August Cairo airport authorities seized Islamic artifacts in a package bound for Turkey via Dubai.

In the same month, authorities arrested an Egyptian citizen who attempted to smuggle 11 artifacts dating back to the Greek and Roman eras, including two pottery statues of Isis carrying Horus in his childhood.

In September, authorities at Borg al-Arab airport in the coastal city of Alexandria thwarted an attempt to smuggle 1,200 antique coins in the baggage of an Egyptian citizen heading to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

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Update: Official denies that new policy grants Palestinians visa-free entry

by admin
July 23rd, 2012

A senior security official at Cairo International Airport denied that Egypt had allowed Palestinians to enter Egypt without showing visas.

The source told Al-Masry Al-Youm on Monday that that no directives had been made concerning entry for Palestinians, and added that current instructions and deportations to the Rafah land crossing are remain in place.

The German news agency DPA had earlier reported that Egyptian authorities started Monday morning a new policy that granted Palestinians visa-free entry to Egypt and security safeguards at all of the country’s entrances, quoting airport sources.

DPA said that daily missions deporting Palestinians without visas from Cairo airport to the Rafah border crossing had also been abolished.

The agency had said the new policy was a result of directives issued by the National Security Agency that grant entry to Palestinians of all ages without any procedures, except for sealing their passports. The new measure applies to Palestinians heading either to Egypt or the Gaza Strip.

The sources added that Palestinians between the ages of 18 and 40 would be subject to extra security screening by the National Security Agency

DPA had said that following the directives, seven Palestinians who were held at the airport while awaiting National Security Agency review were allowed to enter the country directly under the supervision of the Palestinian Authority’s embassy.

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Omar Suleiman to receive military funeral Saturday

by admin
July 21st, 2012

Former spy chief and vice president Omar Suleiman is to receive a military funeral in Cairo on Saturday, Egypt's state news agency reported.

"General Omar Suleiman, former vice president, will receive a military funeral after prayers at the Rashdan Mosque," in Cairo, MENA said.
Suleiman died on Thursday aged 77. He had been undergoing medical tests in the United States.
 
"On Thursday, July 19, General Omar Suleiman … passed away due to complications from amyloidosis, a disease that affects multiple organs including the heart and kidneys," the Cleveland Clinic said in a statement issued on Thursday night.
 
Suleiman had reportedly suffered from a lung disease for several months, after which he developed heart problems.
 
A private plane carrying his body arrived at Cairo Airport at dawn on Saturday. An ambulance was waiting at the VIP terminal to transport the body, and Suleiman supporters and several general intelligence and military police leaders waited by the terminal's exit.
 
The Rashdan Mosque is in Cairo's Nasr City district.
 
Meanwhile, Major General Mohamad Naguib Hassan, Assistant Interior Minister for the prison sector, has denied a news story that Hosni Mubarak, who is now detained at Tora Prison Hospital, submitted a request to attend the funeral.
 
Funeral prayers dedicated to Suleiman's soul were performed in a mosque in 6th of October City Friday. The mosque’s imam described Suleiman as “a good man, and not corrupt.”
 
He said Suleiman did well in the battles against Israel. He forbade insulting and cursing Suleiman, or accusing him of blasphemy, because he was a Muslim.
 
According to the imam, fate placed Suleiman with the former regime, but he was never a liar or a thief.
 
Suleiman was considered by many to be Mubarak's most trusted man and an accomplice in Israel's siege of Gaza.
 
His spy agency was responsible for suppressing opposition groups in Egypt, and he was involved in the post 9/11 extraordinary rendition program in which terror suspects kidnapped by Americans were shipped to Egypt for interrogation, sometimes involving torture.
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Bodies of two children killed in Qatari mall fire arrive at Cairo airport

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May 30th, 2012

The bodies of two children who died in a fire at a Qatari shopping mall arrived at the Cairo Airport on Wednesday and were handed over to their families.

Nineteen people of different nationalities have died in the fire, including 13 children who were in a nursery.

The father of Youssef Shata, 3, the first child, said the Egyptian embassy in Doha was in constant contact with him. “My wife had just given birth when she heard the news,” he said.

The family of Evian Anthonios, 2, the second child, declined to speak to the media.

Edited translation from MENA

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Qatari intelligence delegation visits Cairo

by admin
May 26th, 2012

The Qatari assistant chief of staff for security and intelligence affairs, Ahmed bin Nasser bin Jasim Aaal Than, arrived in Cairo Friday evening from Doha with a delegation to discuss regional developments.

A source who welcomed the delegation at Cairo airport told DPA that "Nasser accompanied a delegation of six visitors who willmeet a number of Egyptian officials tomorrow to discuss the latest developments in the region and a means of enhancing cooperation between Egypt and Qatar in the upcoming period, in light of the results of the presidential election's first round."

Egypt's intelligence chief Morad Mowafy visited Qatar last week to met senior Qatari officials.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

 

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Prominent activist returns to Cairo after being sentenced to prison

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May 9th, 2012

Political activist Asmaa Mahfouz returned to Cairo on Wednesday on a German airplane coming from Munich, a security source said.

Mahfouz had left Cairo on Friday, arriving first in the US and then in Germany.

The blogger was not arrested upon arriving at Cairo airport even though she had been sentenced in absentia Tuesday to one year in prison for allegedly assaulting a witness in an ongoing trial over violence at the state TV building in October. Mahfouz must also pay bail and a LE2,000 fine.

Mahfouz and her lawyers said she would appeal the ruling. Her appeal is scheduled to be examined on 14 May.

Mahfouz rose to fame when she posted a video on YouTube urging Egyptians to protest against President Hosni Mubarak before he was toppled in February 2011.

Since then Mahfouz, who was awarded the European Parliament's Sakharov prize for freedom of thought, has targeted the military rulers who took charge after Mubarak’s ouster.

The military had said it would try her for incitement over her online writing but dropped the case.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Two Umra pilgrims file complaint against Tantawi honor guards

by admin
April 19th, 2012

Two Umra pilgrims on Thursday filed a complaint with the military prosecutor against the honor guards of military leader Hussein Tantawi, accusing the guards of assaulting them at Cairo airport on Sunday evening.

Early investigations by airport security revealed that Brigadier General Essam Gharib Ahmed received a phone call from his brother, who was returning on the same plane as the two pilgrims, brothers Mostafa and Yehia Mahmoud. Ahmed’s brother alleged that the two caused him to fall down the airplane entry ramp while he was boarding the plane, and asked Ahmed to wait for their arrival and teach them a lesson.

Kamal Suleiman, the lawyer for the two brothers, told Al-Masry Al-Youm Thursday that the two filed a complaint with the Defense Ministry with details of the incident and have demanded Ahmed be interrogated. The ministry then referred the complaint to the military prosecutor.

He added that seven guards waited for his clients at the airport, and insulted and beat them. The complaint has been referred to the military prosecution for investigation, Suleiman said, noting that airport surveillance cameras recorded the assault.

Sources familiar with the situation said the military and airport security were able to reconcile after the military apologized on behalf of the honor guards.

This article is an edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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