São Paulo – Tickets for the nonstop flight between São Paulo and Cairo will start selling to travelers at agencies and websites in Brazil next week, according to information disclosed to ANBA by the executive in charge of operations of EgyptAir and Master Flights in Brazil, Marlene de Sousa. The flight, which will initially be a charter, will debut on September 4.
For now, only one agency already sells the flights individually, with others offering them as part of travel packages. Air tickets, however, could start selling separately next week, including on large platforms such as CVC and Decolar.
The EgyptAir flight will depart every two weeks from Brazil, returning from Cairo 12 or 13 days after departure. It will be operated by Spanish agent Master Flights, whose branch in Brazil is Egypt Flights Brasil. This Thursday (22) night, the initiative’s official launch was held in the capital of São Paulo.
The flight comes with the prospect of becoming regular soon. The Brazilian National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) authorized the nine-month charter operation. Sousa said the flight could become regular at the end of this period or sooner. When the flight becomes regular, it could be sold in the International Air Transport Association (IATA) system and be accessed and booked by IATA-member entities.
Tickets could also be sold in Egypt, and the flight could become weekly, according to Marlene. But she believes there is a possibility the flight will increase in frequency soon, as departures once a week were already authorized by ANAC. The route was scheduled biweekly to assess market response.
The Brazil-Egypt flight
The first flight is expected to depart Guarulhos Airport on September 4 at 4:00 am BRT and land in Cairo on the same day at 10:30 pm EEST. The return will occur on September 16 at 11:55 pm EEST, arriving on September 17 at 7:20 am BRT. The departure times in each country will always be the same, and the travel time will be around 12 hours and 30 minutes. After the first flight, the next departure from Brazil will be on September 18.
The plane to carry the passengers will be a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, with 30 seats in business class and 279 in economy. The outward flight will have the callsign MS3910 and the return MS3911. According to Sousa, passengers can change ticketholder names within 48 hours before boarding without penalties.
Master Flights, the broker responsible for the flight, is a reference in charter in Spain and air connections between Egypt and the European country, with a partnership of over 15 years with EgyptAir. Solely this year, Master Fligths expects to transport 100,000 people between Spain and Egypt.
The CEO of Master Flights, Alfonso Martinez, was at the launch in São Paulo and the director of EgyptAir’s Non-Scheduled Flights Division, Ahmed Ali, authorities and players in tourism and travel. The Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce was represented by director Mohamad Abdouni Neto, Sales executive Filipe Ferraz, and New Business director Guilherme Fedozzi.
Translated by Elúsio Brasileiro
