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?
Cairo is a hub and from there you can fly to Nairobi, Dar es Salaam , Cyprus ,London and other locations . Prices can be cheap , but service is rather poor .
This is a reinstated route by MS. I flew Sydney to Singapore leg in Y prior to year 2000. Everything was fine until I went to the back galley for a glass of water, as my call button unanswered. All 5 FAs just sat there and smoked cigarettes….. I guess smoking was allowed back then. How time flies……
They are targeting budget-conscious SIN travellers to Europe and for those going to Tanzania/Kenya.
They are targeting budget-conscious SIN travellers to Europe and for those going to Tanzania/Kenya.
There is a large Arabic community in Australia. Adding Sydney makes sense.
As for Singapore, we do not know if we can get flight to sydney on this flight but it is a direct nonstop flight between SIN to Cairo. This makes sense as there lots of Indonesians that will travel to Singapore to fly on to Egypt. Particularly given that Garuda Indonesia kinda given up on many of their international flights.
Singapore isn't a tech stop - they're also targeting the Singapore to Egypt market with this service. SIN-CAI was ~21k roundtrip passengers in 2025. Not massive by any stretch, but it still roughly doubles the figures in the article.
Greece and Italy are very close to CAI and they both have significant VFR and tourism traffic from/to Australia. The SIN stop makes the trip longer but it might be a welcome opportunity for Y pax to stretch their legs and avoid being stuck in the same seat for a ridiculous amount of hours. I have no doubt that their business class will be priced at the sort of money others charge for premium economy...
Greece and Italy are very close to CAI and they both have significant VFR and tourism traffic from/to Australia. The SIN stop makes the trip longer but it might be a welcome opportunity for Y pax to stretch their legs and avoid being stuck in the same seat for a ridiculous amount of hours. I have no doubt that their business class will be priced at the sort of money others charge for premium economy so I'm confident they'll have no issues filling the planes up. Whether the route makes any profit is a different question, but there isn't much to to dislike from a passenger perspective.
While I have often enjoyed your blog, I obviously wasn't checking it in late 2024, so imagine my surprise. . .
today in 2026 when I am innocently reading about EgyptAir's new service to Singapore and Sydney, I run across this phrase: "Cairo Airport is of course a gorgeous, world class, five-star facility/"
I about deposited something in the seat of my underwear, having been through that place only one arrival and one departure...
While I have often enjoyed your blog, I obviously wasn't checking it in late 2024, so imagine my surprise. . .
today in 2026 when I am innocently reading about EgyptAir's new service to Singapore and Sydney, I run across this phrase: "Cairo Airport is of course a gorgeous, world class, five-star facility/"
I about deposited something in the seat of my underwear, having been through that place only one arrival and one departure years ago. (Interestingly, my departure was CAI - SIN, on an SQ cargo/pax combo 747 that had to stop in BKK for fuel.)
Boy, did they change the thing after I was there? What the ___ ?
Until I clicked on that, saw you were being facetious, and found the whole seven-minute video of security cameras spying on a Lucky western anglo guy.
Ha! Ain't irony fun?
You better believe it. For us long-time, non-stop readers, that CAI story is now BIBLICAL.
As an Egyptian myself, it's embarrassing.
I once had an airport staffer try to funnel me into a busier line at passport control on account of me being an Arab citizen - the line I was in was for African countries and it was empty but nobody was following anything. I pretended I didn't understand Arabic and flashed my Canadian passport and kept going.
To tell you the Truth, The New Planes are Great, very comfortable Business Class, much better than Emirates and very close to the (Q-suites) if they had Doors. Wife liked the comfort of the seats better than Q Suites.
Now Service is meh! They try their best, But not good enough. Sudanese & Somalis FA's were Great, But Egyptians were simply Lazy.
By the way, This is the first time i noticed FAs taking leftover Muffins & Fruits and putting them in the Bags.
What goes around, comes around.
I flew Sydney - Singapore - Cairo in the 1990's on an EgyptAir 767.
Niccce.
95% of longhaul routes wouldn't survive on purely O&D demand, so looking purely at Egypt-Australia travel patterns seems kinda pointless. I assume the route will target low yield passengers between Australia and Africa / Europe. I can't fly EU-Australia in Economy, and business fare too high for me most of the time, so I can see myself doing this one day if Egyptair will be dirt cheap as usual.
I must say the A350 hard product seems excellent, and it seems like EgyptAir has a decent soft product these days. The glaring issue is no alcohol (unless you BYOB which doesn't really appeal to me). Looks like the A350 will also be coming to the JFK route. Am headed to Egypt from the US in a few months but booked Air France--they run the 787 from CDG to CAI so it's a proper business...
I must say the A350 hard product seems excellent, and it seems like EgyptAir has a decent soft product these days. The glaring issue is no alcohol (unless you BYOB which doesn't really appeal to me). Looks like the A350 will also be coming to the JFK route. Am headed to Egypt from the US in a few months but booked Air France--they run the 787 from CDG to CAI so it's a proper business class experience with lie-flats. If EgyptAir weren't dry, I'd have given them a try on the nonstop.
If your criteria for choosing airlines is serving alcohol.
I suggest you try AA, and I'm not referring to the airline.
I'm basically an alcoholic at this point but not even I would avoid an airline just because it doesn't serve alcohol... Who cares? Sure, nice glass of wine with the dinner is pleasant, but it's not a gamechanger.
Personally I don't drink on half of my longhaul flights anyway (basically only on the way home, if the timing makes sense). On overnight eastbounds I actively avoid alcohol because it would screw up my jetlag.
How much demand is there between Doha and pretty much anywhere? Or Amman and SE Asia? There are tons of examples of operators doing similar things, and adding new service to OZ, that bypasses the ME3, with cheap bucket fares, is likely very attractive to many backpacking Euros or Antipodeans to get between the two places.
Speaking like someone who's never been to Doha.
Many many times over the last 30 years.
I remember when QR pretty much only flew between LGW carrying backpackers to KTM with 747s.
That’s MS’s market.
"Coming from Australia, Cairo is actually a geographically advantageous connecting point for going to Europe", good point. Two years ago flew Egyptair's narrowbody in Business from Luxor to London (same planes fly out of Cairo and some are widebodies) and those were great 2-2 spacious recliner seats, much better than anything offered on similar planes in Europe, except for Turkish, and North America. The meal was great too.
I dont get the hate on this in the comments! "Why would you choose this over ME3?" - award availability/price! More competition among airlines is good for passengers. Let those airlines have to work harder, egyptair for all its flaws has been much better about US/Asia availability to partners than Turkish/ME3 have for a while to my eyes and much better with cash outlays vs say emirates.
Obviously the demand will be transits to Europe.
The obvious question is why would anyone choose this over the ME3?
Price. TK is making it work. Chinese carriers have lots of transit pax, heck even Royal Brunei's main business is moving people from Europe to Australia.
MS is actually a really nice ride in the A350, Y and J. Now if Cairo airport wasnt such a hole.
...and transits to the US (JFK). If what you care about is a lie-flat bed at a reasonable price, and don't care about such niceties as alcohol and service, and are willing to risk transiting in CAI, I imagine MS would be a pretty attractive JFK-SYD option.
I'm TK's biggest fan when it comes to shorthaul but I absolutely avoid them on longhaul due to their policy of forcing the cabin dark for 12+ hours on daytime flights. I'm far more comfortable with having to bribe staff at the world-renowned CAI airport than going through that TK torture again.
The other thing is if the war in Iran continues till at least 2028 this will be genius because I know people that love the ME3 but will not go there because they don't want to be stuck in the middle east for weeks. In fact I had to go with the dreaded LH group to china in a few months.
Yeah, naw, yeah... that's a nope for me, dawg.
(Besides, I'd rather pay extra for the pending nonstop, JFK-SYD, 'Project Sunrise').
Will MS pay for lounge access at SYD?
why anyone would choose this carrier over an ME3 airline is beyond me...
@chris w...price, honey.
Is there the potential for JFK-CAI flights to connect? If so, that could capture New York - Singapore traffic.
Is there the potential for LHR-CAI flights to connect? If so, that could capture London - Sydney traffic.
If the service, connection ease, and price is right, maybe it could actually work out.
Why are people being sarcastic? Cairo Airport could come and hurt you in retaliation. The addition of the photo and the sarcastic caption...
Is there the potential for JFK-CAI flights to connect? If so, that could capture New York - Singapore traffic.
Is there the potential for LHR-CAI flights to connect? If so, that could capture London - Sydney traffic.
If the service, connection ease, and price is right, maybe it could actually work out.
Why are people being sarcastic? Cairo Airport could come and hurt you in retaliation. The addition of the photo and the sarcastic caption in the article could be the opening salvo of a new bloody war between individuals and organizations working on behalf of the airport. Please have sanity!
"Is there the potential for JFK-CAI flights to connect? If so, that could capture New York - Singapore traffic."
One can already do this on SQ25, JFK-FRA-SIN, and then switch planes for SIN-SYD. I've done this for some MEL trips.
this would have connecting potential if they did it non-stop which i think is possible given the 359.....
Ben, can't wait for the review! You'll be on the inaugural, right? Right?! :-D
@ FMBWI -- Oh, you know it! I'll be seated in Cell 1A!
Hey, that might actually be your great chance - the SIN-SYD route without passing through Egypt is probably your only remaining way to review EgyptAir. ;)
@ Gerwanese -- Wait, actually... OMG, this is exciting!
@Ben
I suggest you consult with specialized lawyers before you go full sphinx.
Once you pass 12nm from land, you're fair game.
@ Ben, just don't sit near an exit door 😅
"sorry passengers, this plane is being diverted from our previously scheduled nonstop to sydney to Cairo. We have a blogger under super secret probation on board"
This 1A definitely comes with a suite door.
Surprised they decided to do this because TK also just launched SIN SYD [https://mainlymiles.com/2026/08/06/turkish-airlines-launching-singapore-sydney-flights/]. So EgyptAir has a fair bit of competition on the route!
Interestingly, TK fares are horrendous, both all the way from Europe to Australia, as well as for the fifth freedom flight from Singapore to Australia.
People with choice still considers TK? The airline that was going to give out a million miles then decided it was stupid and made it almost impossible by moving the goal post.