Air Cairo will use Hurghada as a hub from 25 October, channeling passengers from Germany, Austria and Switzerland onto flights to East Africa and Saudi Arabia. The operation will rely on Airbus A320s and Embraer E190s, with Jeddah and Medina among the first destinations, as the airline moves beyond its traditional Red Sea leisure focus into scheduled connecting traffic.
The network will draw feeder passengers from ten cities: Berlin, Basel, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich, Stuttgart, Vienna and Zurich. Later in the rollout, Hurghada will also connect to Zanzibar, Nairobi and Mombasa, with the transfer bank due to expand through late 2026.
Air Cairo plans through-checked baggage on the new flows, and the transit model is designed to allow connections without entering Egypt in normal cases. Some travellers may qualify for a free transit visa of up to 72 hours depending on nationality, while the hub role is intended to remain in place beyond the winter 2026/27 season.