EgyptAir

Early years: Misr Airwork (1932–1949) Alan Muntz, chairman of Airwork, visited Egypt in 1931; at that time, he expressed his intention of starting up a new airline in the country. The new enterprise was named Misr Airwork, with () being Arabic for "Egypt". On 31 December 1931, the government granted the new company the exclusivity of air transport operations. A division of Misr Airwork named Misr Airlines was established on 7 June 1932, ″to promote the spirit of aviation among Egyptian youth″, becoming the seventh carrier in the world at that time. The initial investment was £E20,000, with ownership split between the Misr Bank (85%), Airwork (10%), and Egyptian private investors (5%). Operations started in July 1933, initially linking Cairo with Alexandria and Mersa Matruh using de Havilland DH.84 Dragon equipment. By August that year, the frequency on the Cairo–Alexandria service had been boosted to twice-daily. In late 1933, The number of passengers transported during 1955 had grown to . On 22 April, a Boeing 737 flying from Cairo to Luxor was hijacked by Palestinians; an Egyptian commando team regained control of the aircraft with no damages to its structure. The Comets were sold to Dan-Air on 9 October. During the year, Boeing 737 Advanced entered the fleet. A serious accident involving a Boeing 707 took place on 25 Dec when a non-regular flight from Cairo to Tokyo crashed into a textile mill while on approach to Bangkok, killing all passengers and a crew of ; fatalities and injured people on the ground were also reported. Egyptair is a state-owned company with special legislation permitting the management to operate as if the company were privately owned without any interference from the government. The company is self-financing without any financial backing by the Egyptian government. The airline underwent a major corporate re-engineering in 2002 when its structure was changed from a governmental organization into a holding company with subsidiaries. In May 2006, the airline launched a regional subsidiary called Egyptair Express with a fleet of new Embraer E170 jets with services commencing in 2007. The carrier links Cairo with Sharm El Sheikh, Hurghada, Luxor, Aswan, Marsa Alam, Abu Simbel and Alexandria (Egypt) in addition to secondary destinations to complement the parent company's network. In June 2009, the subsidiary received the last of the 12 E170 aircraft on order. This is fortified by huge assets of more than US$3.8 billion. The airline's financial year is from July to June. For the fiscal year ending 31 July 2007, Egyptair achieved a record total revenue of US$1.143 billion. Total group revenue grew by 14%, as compared with the previous year. In early 2007, the airline partnered with the Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation and Egyptian Holding Company for Airports & Air Navigation to form a new corporate airline, Smart Aviation Company, based at Cairo Airport. in old livery at Frankfurt Airport in 2013 In 2009, Egyptair's operations at its Cairo International Airport hub (where it holds 61% of the airport's departure slots) were notably overhauled due to the inauguration of the new Terminal 3 in April 2009. The airline transferred all its operations (international and domestic) to the new terminal that has more than doubled the airport's capacity. Under the Star Alliance "Move Under One Roof" concept at Cairo Airport, all Star Alliance airlines serving Cairo have moved to Terminal 3. In 2010 the airline will overhaul operations at its Alexandria base by transferring operations from the older facilities at El Nouzha Airport to the new airport in Borg El Arab Airport. During the 2009–2010 Paris Airshow, the airline announced a new venture with US lessor Aviation Capital Group (ACG) and other Egyptian private and public shareholders to establish a leasing joint venture focusing on the Middle East and Northern Africa region. The new joint venture – named Civil Aviation Finance and Operating Leases (CIAF-Leasing) will initially focus on narrowbody aircraft. Following the revolution of 2011, Egyptair is reported to have suffered considerable losses. Egypt's civil aviation minister Wael El Maadawi said the airline lost an estimated 1.3 billion Egyptian pounds, or around $185 million, over the 2012/13 fiscal year, mainly due to an increase in fuel prices, the devaluation of the Egyptian currency and continuous strikes within the company. Losses for 2011/12 were apparently around double the 2012/13 figures. The carrier has reportedly suffered total losses of more than 7bn pounds, or nearly $1bn, since the 2011 uprising. In the middle of 2012, a group of flight attendants asked for the right to wear hijabs as part of their work uniform. The company granted their request and hijab-wearing flight attendants first appeared in November 2012. In November 2015, two weeks after the crash that brought down Metrojet Flight 9268 in the Sinai peninsula, Russian authorities banned Egyptair from flying to Russia, citing security concerns. In January 2016, Egyptair was fined for leasing aircraft to Sudan Airways during 2010–11, breaking economic sanctions imposed on Sudan in 1997. Egyptair is one of the few airlines which does not serve alcoholic beverages on its flights. As part of a restructuring of Egyptair, Aviation Minister Air Marshall Younes Hamed announced the merger of Egyptair Express, Egyptair Cargo, and Egyptair Ground Services Company with the mainline airline. As of 4 November 2019, only Egyptair Express was officially merged with the rest of plan to be completed by the end of 2019. ==Corporate affairs==