EgyptAir (MS, Cairo International) has submitted an official request to the Israeli authorities for a permit to launch in-house services between Cairo International and Tel Aviv Ben Gurion, replacing those run by purpose-built subsidiary Air Sinai (ASD, Cairo International) since 1982, Israeli broadcaster i24NEWS has reported.
Sources indicated that EgyptAir has sought to increase the frequency of the flights from daily to 3x daily. Russia Today subsequently claimed that an official source at the Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation had denied the report.
The request has been filed in the wake of the so-called Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel, and Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (later followed by Sudan and Morocco), and thus defused tensions surrounding any cooperation between Arab countries and Israel. Egypt itself has had full diplomatic relations with Israel since its 1979 peace agreement, wherein Cairo became the first Arab capital to recognise Israel in return for the latter's withdrawal from the Sinai peninsula.
Following the 1979 treaty, Egypt agreed to establish direct air services between the two countries. However, in order to avoid being embargoed by Arab states angry at Egypt's newfound ties with Israel, EgyptAir chose to run the flights through Air Sinai, a subsidiary with no in-house aircraft whose only task was to connect Cairo and Tel Aviv. Currently, Air Sinai wet-leases two A220-300s from its parent, SU-GFA (msn 55061) and SU-GFD (msn 55062), according to Flightradar24 ADS-B data. The aircraft are all-white, although they are also deployed by EgyptAir on its own network on top of flights on behalf of Air Sinai.
EgyptAir hopes to establish Cairo as an attractive hub for services between Israel and Africa. Through Air Sinai, EgyptAir is the only carrier connecting Egypt and Israel as El Al Israel Airlines (LY, Tel Aviv Ben Gurion) does not serve Egypt.
