Air Leisure (Cairo International) has secured a three-month long charter contract from the Egyptian government to ferry tourists from Saudi Arabia to the Red Sea resort towns of Hurghada and Sharm el Sheikh.
Egypt's Tourism Minister Mohamed Yehia Rashed said in a statement that he hopes to attract as many as 150,000 Saudi vacationers to the Egyptian Riviera which has struggled in the face of renewed terrorist attacks.
Flights will start before the Eid Al-Fitr holidays, he added.
Should the project prove successful, the minister said other countries such as Kuwait, Jordan, and Lebanon could be targeted in future.
Air Leisure currently operates three ex-EgyptAir (MS, Cairo International) A340-200s and one MD-83 (on repair in N'Djamena) on regular flights from Alexandria International, Asyut, Luxor, and Sohag to Jeddah International and from Hurghada to Beijing Capital and Shanghai Pudong in China.
