EgyptAir is planning on launching two new routes to the United States, including its longest flight yet…
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EgyptAir adding Chicago & Los Angeles routes
EgyptAir has filed with the Department of Transportation (DOT), requesting permission to launch flights to Los Angeles (LAX) as of May 2026, and Chicago (ORD) as of June 2026.
The airline is requesting the necessary exemption as soon as possible, so that it can start marketing and selling these flights. There’s no reason EgyptAir shouldn’t get the exemption authority that enables it to operate these flights, so I’d imagine the airline will follow through on this.
EgyptAir’s wide body fleet currently consists of five Boeing 777-300ERs, eight Boeing 787-9s, four Airbus A330-200s, and four Airbus A330-300s. That being said, the airline is pretty maxed out on utilizing those planes, and plans to soon start taking delivery of Airbus A350-900s, which will allow for a significant expansion. So I’d guess that the airline will either use Boeing 787-9s for these routes, or the brand new Airbus A350-900s.
The Chicago route will cover a distance of 6,149 miles, while the Los Angeles route will cover a distance of 7,606 miles, making the latter (by far) the longest flight in EgyptAir’s network.
I’ve reviewed EgyptAir’s Boeing 787-9 business class. The airline has reverse herringbone seats, which are quite competitive. While the hard product is quite good, just about everything else leaves something to be desired. Then again, my opinions on anything related to Egypt are apparently not valid, so I’ll just leave it at that. 😉
Perhaps what’s most interesting about this new Los Angeles service is that it would mean that LAX would have a nonstop connection to all six inhabited continents. For what it’s worth, this route would technically be a resumption, as EgyptAir flew to Los Angeles decades ago.
How these routes fit into EgyptAir’s network
For context, Chicago and Los Angeles would be EgyptAir’s fifth and sixth destinations in North America. The airline also flies to New York (JFK), Newark (EWR), Toronto (YYZ), and Washington (IAD).
The Chicago route seems like a safe(ish) enough bet that feeds into a huge United hub (and EgyptAir and United are both in Star Alliance). However, I’m a little more skeptical of the viability of something like the Los Angeles service:
- The economics of ultra long haul flights are challenging, and this flight is 2,000 miles longer than EgyptAir’s service to New York
- There’s a lot more demand for travel to Africa from New York, Washington, and Toronto, than there is from Los Angeles
- While Los Angeles is also a United hub, the airline doesn’t have as much connectivity as at the other hubs; you’d basically just be funneling in a bit of traffic from the West Coast, and those are people that could also potentially route through the East Coast
- Los Angeles has a ton of wealthy people connecting to destinations that could be served one-stop via Cairo, but a vast majority of them would instead elect to fly with Emirates, Qatar, etc.
So I could be wrong, but I feel like this route might be more motivated by prestige and “Hollywood” than by traffic and yield figures. Then again, that would hardly be the first time a government owned airline launched a route for that reason.
Bottom line
EgyptAir intends to launch two new routes to the United States, including a new flight to Los Angeles as of May 2026, and a new flight to Chicago as of June 2026. While the flight aren’t yet on sale, the airline has filed with the DOT requesting permission to add these services, so hopefully that happens soon.
Chicago seems logical enough, given that it’s a United hub, so there’s lots of connectivity. However, I remain a bit more skeptical about the potential profitability of Los Angeles flights, given the length of the flight, the traffic flows, etc.
What do you make of EgyptAir adding flights to Chicago & Los Angeles? Do you think the airline will succeed?
Orlando Florida had a lot of people flying to Egypt
Why are you do flying to Orlando Florida
For one, as an ORD flier, I'm fine with this as it'll give yet more one stop award availability. EgyptAir seems to consistently be solid about releasing partner space. And two, whensoever *A partner ANZ resumes their ORD-AKL flight, ORD will join LAX again as having flights to all six inhabited continents. That or Qantas's cursed ORD-BNE route but who knows when or if that'll happen!
I live by ORD, and this doesn't do much for me. Would much prefer having the direct ORD to BNE flight that was in the wings before the pandemic, and I'd also rather have the direct Chicago TO Auckland flight back.
can you imagine being stuck on an Egypt Air flight for that long ? Absolutely horrible airline
Ding ding ding:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QDhpaX0ANXg&pp=ygUNRWd5cHQgYWlyIDk5MA%3D%3D
Surely it makes more sense to operate to SFO instead of LAX given there would be similar levels of demand whilst being at a much stronger United hub
I wouldn't be surprised if the routes (especially LAX) were centered around potential world cup traffic more than anything
Ben,
I'm shocked they didn't announce CAI-MIA and invite you to review their inaugural flight in J class ;)
CAI-LAX last year was 61,000 pax pure p2p hence a decently sized market segment to form a base load out of. Fyi total California to CAI was 92K pax round trip.
They will be able to easily stimulate p2p demand by +30% in the first year of flying. The main focus of LAX apart from p2p would be connecting the higher yielding JED RUH pax for LAX especially the big student movement + rich VFR/tourists...
CAI-LAX last year was 61,000 pax pure p2p hence a decently sized market segment to form a base load out of. Fyi total California to CAI was 92K pax round trip.
They will be able to easily stimulate p2p demand by +30% in the first year of flying. The main focus of LAX apart from p2p would be connecting the higher yielding JED RUH pax for LAX especially the big student movement + rich VFR/tourists + they will also get a lot of transit pax bound to BEY AMM DXB KWI LOS ACC.
Yields though on LAXCAI are quite low hence even though this route may see good year round loads, it shall never be net profitable due to the low yields.
EgyptAir just needs to up their service to levels comparable to Royal Jordanian and RAM. They don't need to be Qatar Airways. I think the no alcohol policy is completely absurd because Egypt doesn't exactly have anything against a tipple. Egypt has a pretty robust wine industry and has brewed beer literally as long as beer has existed. In fact, I can't imagine a night in Cairo not spent in a lounge or a baladi bar.
let's see how the jet fuel supply is at LAX by the time the LAX flight starts.
A major fire at Chevron's refinery which is a major source of jet fuel for LAX burned overnight.
Might see some fuel stops from LAX in a few weeks.
Good eye, Tim. That’s unfortunate.
Given the release date I'm guessing it gives the airline a few options for Egyptians for the world cup to any destination via a UA hub.
Los Angeles and Orange County have a sizable Egyptian population. EgyptAir flew to LAX in 90’s via JFK. 3x weekly should work.
Beware EgyptAir. See Flight 990 as the cautionary warning.
It’s been a while, and many airlines have incidents. I wouldn’t ‘beware’ of this particular airline because of that crash. I’d ‘beware’ of flying through CAI, generally, for multiple reasons, one of which is that they tend to inspect your valuables, especially camera equipment, sometimes confiscating on false pretenses… not nice.
They have never acknowledged that the pilot was a mass murder who intentionally crashed the plane. They treated the victim’s families horribly. I’ll never fly them.
Odd that you repeatedly write about "Africa" here. Yes, Egypt is in Africa, but its also in the Middle East. When you’re talking about Egypt’s marketability for flights, referring to it as the Middle East makes a lot more sense. To give just one example of why that matters, consider how many people in SoCal who would want to fly to Jeddah for Umrah. Cairo is an excellent transit point for that route. And many others...largely in the Middle East .
You're not wrong, Franklin. While nitpicking pedants will insist that Egypt is in Africa (a fact no one disputes), that geographical fact alone does not give a full picture of Egypt's role and place in the Middle East, as you rightly point out. I like to remind people that Ireland and Britain, strictly speaking are not a part of 'Europe'. And that Japan is not part of Asia. But to all intents and purposes, they...
You're not wrong, Franklin. While nitpicking pedants will insist that Egypt is in Africa (a fact no one disputes), that geographical fact alone does not give a full picture of Egypt's role and place in the Middle East, as you rightly point out. I like to remind people that Ireland and Britain, strictly speaking are not a part of 'Europe'. And that Japan is not part of Asia. But to all intents and purposes, they indeed are part of Europe and Asia, respectively. Just like Egypt is a part of the Middle East. But some people are so stubborn (or stupid?) they will cling only onto the geographical perspective while ignoring the economic, cultural and historical perspectives, which are far more important.
Great Britain lies on the European continental shelf.
Great Britain lies on the European continental shelf.
Great Britain lies on the European continental shelf.
People might also want to fly to places like Kenya and Ethiopia…so why not do that via Cairo?
Exactly. It's preposterous to assume that there are lots of people who would be happy to pay a price premium and also have to spend an extra 4-5+ hours travelling just so they can access a better lounge and/or enjoy a couple of glasses of decent wine.
ATH also happens to be a very short hop away from CAI and I would much rather fly the route on an Egyptair widebody for 90% of...
Exactly. It's preposterous to assume that there are lots of people who would be happy to pay a price premium and also have to spend an extra 4-5+ hours travelling just so they can access a better lounge and/or enjoy a couple of glasses of decent wine.
ATH also happens to be a very short hop away from CAI and I would much rather fly the route on an Egyptair widebody for 90% of the journey than have to put up with connecting at LHR and 'enjoying' BA's 30" seat pitch and dubious catering in Eurobusiness for a good four hours.
well its not BA thats the primary competition here its EK/QR/EY so the BA mention is a weird strawman
and also "a better lounge and/or a couple of glasses of decent wine" is a hilarious minimization of the difference between the above carriers and Egyptair LOL
@Harold, I don't know whether I failed to express myself clearly or you've got an issue with reading comprehension.
If you're flying LAX-ATH, you likely need to connect somewhere- and you're likely better off doing so at CAI than at LHR (though obviously there are better options too, including ZRH and potentially IST).
If you're flying LAX-NBO and you want to go in business class, you can choose to spend a fortune in...
@Harold, I don't know whether I failed to express myself clearly or you've got an issue with reading comprehension.
If you're flying LAX-ATH, you likely need to connect somewhere- and you're likely better off doing so at CAI than at LHR (though obviously there are better options too, including ZRH and potentially IST).
If you're flying LAX-NBO and you want to go in business class, you can choose to spend a fortune in order to fly with a premium airline like QR or EK- but that choice also comes with a substantial time penalty. Egyptair clearly can't offer that level of service, but most people wouldn't turn down the opportunity to make a monetary saving of 40% together with a time saving of 25%.
This guy gets it. If you wanna fly to Kenya, it’s far better to fly QR, EK, BA, KL, etc., even if a nonstop is available on Kenya Airways from JFK-NBO. Please, for your own wellbeing, do not connect through CAI or ADD to get to the rest of Africa, even if it’s a ‘deal,’ because sometimes it really is ‘too good to be true.’
I've connected at CAI without any issues, and I actively enjoy flying KQ- I might choose AF over them, but I certainly don't see them as inferior to KL or BA in any way. If you're going to go into the rabbit hole of anecdotal horror stories, I'm sure someone will be along to talk about the intrusive searches at DOH, the poppy seed sandwich arrests in the UAE, the IT meltdowns at LHR etc....
I've connected at CAI without any issues, and I actively enjoy flying KQ- I might choose AF over them, but I certainly don't see them as inferior to KL or BA in any way. If you're going to go into the rabbit hole of anecdotal horror stories, I'm sure someone will be along to talk about the intrusive searches at DOH, the poppy seed sandwich arrests in the UAE, the IT meltdowns at LHR etc. The fact that unacceptable things occasionally happen in a lot of places doesn't mean that they're representative of the experience of the average passenger with the airport/airline in question.
Although I agree that connecting in CAI may not be the best transit experience, I think you have gotten the idea of ADD wrong - ET is definitely the best carrier to transit into Africa in, and its very convenient, especially now with the expanded airport.
HARD PASS!
Shame you won't be able to review these flights departing from the world's best airport ;)
Have you checked the LAX-CAI PDEW? It’s large enough for a daily service and the Egyptian community in Los Angeles skews wealthy.
Will they be flying EgyptAir, though?
Egypt Air 990, the country did not want to admit that one of the pilot committed homocidal mass murder on the plane because he is Muslim. Boycott this airline already.
All murder is homicidal, by definition.
He created *suicidal* mass murder.
Egypt has an amazing history and the Grand Museum is phenomenal, however the elite would likely rather travel on a European airline and Cairo Airport isn’t exactly a jewel.
MS will likely attract very low yield traffic.
Or they'll be flying Emirates or Qatar. Why bother with a known shithole carrier when they're available?
Good riddance. You can add Egypt Air and India Air to the list of boycott protest.
"Cairo Airport isn’t exactly a jewel." Careful with that kind of language :D :D