EGYPT: Air Cairo plots widebody addition; clarifies A320neo order details

EL ALAMEIN, Egypt

• Air Cairo is preparing for its first A330 operations with an EIAS 2026 Airbus Flight Hour Services extension and a wider A320 parts pool. No delivery year, let alone type or variant, has been published.
• Parent EgyptAir, holds about 60 percent of Air Cairo, has a dwindling A330 passenger fleet which now entails just four active A330-300s and two A330-200s of which one is out of service.
• Meanwhile, airline chairman and CEO Hussein El-Sherif said Air Cairo's order with Airbus includes 15 firm A320neo plus 15 options, powered by LEAP-1A engines.
• Regarding the thirty A320neo: 15 are confirmed with deposits paid; the other 15 have delivery dates to be determined later. He also said 5 in 2028, 5 in 2029, 5 in 2030, all A320neo, and separately that the 15 could come as one batch in January 2028. The remaining 15 are to be decided in 2028: the first 5, all 15, or a portion. He mde no mention of whether the ordered A320neo will subsequently be sold and leased back.
• Funding for a large part of the 30 aircraft will come from internal revenue; the rest from financing bodies.
• Air Cairo's current fleet includes nineteen A320neo, twelve A320ceo, five ATR72-600s, and three E190s. Aside from domestic flying, the Egyptian boutique carrier offers extensive connectivity throughout the Middle East, the Gulf, Tanzania and Cameroon in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as Europe.
• If the New Administrative Capital airport outside Cairo can handle the operation, all aircraft will be moved there.
• The Hurghada MRO facility involves at least USD 42 million but is still being planned. USD 12 million in spare parts and USD 28 million in engines have already been bought.
• 
  Sources:
  «إير كايرو» تُعزز أسطولها باتفاقية جديدة مع «إيرباص» وتُمهد لإدخال طائرات A330 العملاقة
  «حسين شريف» يكشف استراتيجية «إير كايرو» للتوسع.. صفقة إيرباص بـ4.2 مليار دولار و134 طائرة مستهدفًا بحلول 2034.. توسع إفريقي و«Hub» جديد بالغردقة وخطة لتعزيز قدرات التشغيل
  EgyptAir Fleet | Airfleets aviation