EgyptAir Will Fly From Cairo To Sydney Via Singapore: Low Demand, Low Fares

EgyptAir has revealed plans to launch flights to Australia, which will be its furthest destination to date. There’s only one small problem — there’s not actually much demand for this route. But hey, that’s not to say that the service won’t work for EgyptAir, given its ability to undercut other airlines on price…

EgyptAir plans Cairo to Singapore to Sydney route

While exact details remain to be seen, EgyptAir has formally announced plans to launch flights to Sydney as of early 2027, service that’s intended to support tourism, business, and trade between Egypt and Australia.

The Star Alliance airline will fly from Cairo (CAI) to Sydney (SYD) via Singapore (SIN), so it’ll be a “direct” flight, but not a nonstop flight. It’s not yet clear if the airline will have fifth freedom rights to transport passengers exclusively between Singapore and Sydney — I’d assume so, but who knows.

The direct air distance between Cairo and Sydney is 8,950 miles, while the route through Singapore covers 9,044 miles, so it doesn’t add much distance. The airline intends to use one of its new Airbus A350-900s for the route.

The airline emphasizes how this is an important step to growing EgyptAir’s international network, and also to strengthening ties between Egypt, Singapore, and Australia. The airline also emphasizes the easy onward connections across Egypt, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.

There’s not much direct demand here, but I get the logic

On the surface, it’s highly questionable to launch a 9,000-mile flight in a market where there’s rather limited demand. This isn’t like Australia to the UK, where the demand is absolutely massive.

Looking at data about travel demand between Australia and Egypt, we’re talking about roughly 3,000 Egyptians entering Australia annually, and around 27,000 Australians entering Egypt annually. And keep in mind that’s across cities, so it covers all of Australia and all of Egypt.

Around 30,000 people — or around 82 people per day — really isn’t enough demand to launch a route like this, at least on the surface. For that matter, carriers like Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways, etc., already offer one-stop service between Sydney and Cairo, just as EgyptAir is launching.

But EgyptAir does have something that doesn’t make this service as stupid as it might sound on the surface. That’s the carrier’s attractive cost structure. The airline tends to undercut competitors on price, so my guess is that the airline is just trying to dip into a bunch of “buckets” here:

• This allows EgyptAir to launch flights to both Singapore and Sydney in one swoop
• Presumably EgyptAir will also be able to transport passengers between Singapore and Sydney
• Coming from Australia, Cairo is actually a geographically advantageous connecting point for going to Europe, so the airline could try to tap into Australia and Singapore to Europe demand

Look, we have to be honest with ourselves. While Cairo Airport is of course a gorgeous, world class, five-star facility that one has to see to truly appreciate, the play here is simple — EgyptAir is just going after price sensitive customers, and will try to capture all the potential passenger flows of people looking to save a few bucks. Fair enough…

Bottom line

EgyptAir intends to launch flights between Cairo and Sydney via Singapore as of early 2027. This will be EgyptAir’s furthest destination, and first regularly scheduled flight to the South Pacific.

Demand between Cairo and Sydney isn’t actually particularly high, but the play here is to partly fill planes with people going to and from Singapore, and then to offer connectivity beyond Cairo, including to Europe. So expect EgyptAir to undercut competitors on price, because it’s the only way this service will work.

What do you make of EgyptAir’s Sydney plans?