First Commercial Flight in 34 Years Leaves Cairo for Tehran

The first commercial flight to Iran from Egypt in 34 years ago took off from the Cairo airport en route to Tehran today. The Air Memphis Flight 8000, chartered by Egyptian businessman Ramy Lakah, carried eight passengers, including two Iranian diplomats. The flight launched the new air link between Egypt and Iran.

Air Memphis will operate charter flights to Iran from regional airports in Aswan, Luxor and Abu Simbel in southern Egypt. No further information on the frequency of the flights and the destination cities in Iran was released. (Egypt Independent, 30 March)

Egypt and Iran cut diplomatic relations in 1979. Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi visited Iran last August to attend a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement. In February, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also visited Cairo.

UPDATE: Air Memphis chartered flight has returned from Tehran and landed Saturday evening at Aswan airport with 50 Iranian tourists on board. 

File Photo: An Air Memphis Airbus A320-200 (Wikipedia)