“EgyptAir’s 35 flights to different international destinations including three to Jeddah and Riyadh were delayed,” said a source at the EgyptAir office in the Kingdom.
“A 10 a.m. Jeddah-bound flight did not depart from Cairo. The passengers, who completed travel formalities, refused to go back to the waiting lounge and proceeded to the tarmac. They were later taken back to the lounge,” said the source, who preferred anonymity.
The source told Arab News that air traffic levels between the Kingdom and Egypt are normally at their lowest after the Ramadan vacation, end of Umrah season and the reopening of schools.
A fall in the number of passengers between the two countries has been noticed since the Jan. 25 Revolution, he said.
The corridors of Cairo airport a few hours ago were the scene of severe congestion for passengers, caused by the delay in the taking-off and landing of aircraft.
A Lebanon Airlines flight bound for Beirut had to wait from 7 a.m. till 11 p.m. to get clearance from the control tower, the source said.
Egyptian civil aviation authorities have diverted more than 15 incoming flights to other airports such as Sharm El-Sheikh, Luxor, Alexandria and Asyut to reduce the piling up of passengers and aircraft at the Cairo airport, he said.
Meanwhile, the ATCs called off the protest on Thursday evening, Egypt’s official MENA news agency reported on Thursday.
Al-Masry Al-Youm said in an online report that besides financial demands, ATCs were protesting what they deemed corrupt policies of the airport administration.
Earlier in June, the ATCs went on strike in response to the Civil Aviation Ministry’s reported plan to reduce their salaries after hiring a new batch of ATCs with higher salaries.
