Sharm El Sheikh International Airport

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Sharm El Sheikh
International Airport

مطار شرم الشيخ الدولي
Terminal 2 Sharm el-Sheikh Airport.JPG
Summary
Airport typePublic (former military)
OperatorEgyptian Government
ServesSharm El Sheikh, Egypt
Focus city for
Elevation AMSL143 ft / 44 m
Coordinates27°58′38″N 34°23′41″E / 27.97722°N 34.39472°E / 27.97722; 34.39472Coordinates: 27°58′38″N 34°23′41″E / 27.97722°N 34.39472°E / 27.97722; 34.39472
Websitesharm-el-sheikh-airport.com
Map
SSH is located in Sinai
SSH
SSH
Location of airport in Sinai
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
04L/22R 3,081 10,108 Asphalt
04R/22L 3,081 10,108 Asphalt
Statistics (2010)
Passenger throughput8,693,990[1]
Source: DAFIF[2][3]

Sharm El Sheikh International Airport (Arabic: مطار شرم الشيخ الدولي‎ Maṭār Sharm El Sheikh El Dawli) (IATA: SSH, ICAO: HESH) is an international airport located in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. It is the third-busiest airport in Egypt after Cairo International Airport and Hurghada International Airport. The airport was previously known as Ophira International Airport.

Overview[]

Control tower at Sharm El Sheikh International Airport

The airport was opened on 14 May 1968 as an Israeli Air Force base. After the signing of the Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty in 1979 and subsequent Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula, it was reopened as a civilian airport.

The largest regular aircraft using the airport was a Transaero Airlines-operated Boeing 747-400. These flights transiting from Moscow ended when Transaero ceased operations in October 2015. British Airways operated the only regular scheduled Boeing 777-200ER service (from Gatwick Airport). However, this service (and others) has ceased due to concerns over the downing of Metrojet Flight 9268 on 31 October 2015.

In 2008, the Egyptian Airports Holding Company (EAHC) announced plans to build a third new terminal at the airport. In July 2009 the Egyptian Holding Company for Airports and Air Navigation (EHCAAN) signed a contract with Spanish construction designers Pointec for the third terminal. The terminal was planned to double the airport's capacity from 7.5 to 15 million passengers per year. The project's primary costs were estimated at $420 million. The design phase was due to be completed by early 2010. International contractors then were invited for an open tender to construct the terminal, which was scheduled to be completely constructed by 2015.[4] By September 2016 construction had not commenced.[citation needed]

In November 2015, passenger numbers significantly decreased due to the downing of Metrojet Flight 9268 on 31 October 2015. This led to airlines cancelling flights from the airport and operating rescue flights for stranded passengers. Governments from Russia and European countries such as the United Kingdom banned airlines from operating to the airport, citing safety concerns that were highlighted following the crash. The Government of the United Kingdom, HM Government advised against all travel to and from Sharm El Sheikh.

In January 2018, it was announced that EgyptAir Express would open a base at the airport for its incoming fleet of Airbus A220s. This would increase the amount of destinations served by the airline at the airport with the possibility of operating to cities in Italy, Germany, Morocco and India non-stop.[5]

On 22 October 2019 the UK lifted the flight ban on flights between UK airports and Sharm El Sheikh.[6]

On 1 November 2019 TUI AG, parent company of TUI Airways and TUI UK announced a resumption of flights to the airport, starting in February 2020.[7]

On 9 August 2021, Rossiya Airlines operated the first flight between Russia and Sharm El Sheikh for the first time in 5 years since the banning of the flights between the resort and Russia, due to the downing of Metrojet Flight 9268.[8]

Terminals[]

Terminal 1[]

Terminal 1 Departure hall at Sharm El Sheikh International Airport

On 23 May 2007, the airport's second terminal, the new Terminal 1, was inaugurated with a capacity for 5 million passengers per year. The two-level, 43,000-square-metre (460,000 sq ft) terminal features 40 check-in counters and is designed to cater to a large number of international and chartered flights. It has two domestic and six international gates, all of which exit to remote stands. The terminal comprises three building components: two circular-shaped halls fused together by a wedge-shaped intermediate space dubbed 'the boat'. This serves as a passenger transit hub housing passport control, duty-free, and VIP areas as well as cafes/restaurants. The halls, in stark textural contrast to the solid mass of 'the boat', feature airy, billowing tent-like roofs inspired by the indigenous Bedouin culture.

Terminal 2[]

Although known as Terminal 2, this is actually the airport's original terminal building.[dubious – discuss] The building underwent a complete modernisation programme in 2004 and has a passenger handling capacity of 2.5 million passengers per year. Since the inauguration of Terminal 1 in 2007 most airlines have shifted operations to the new building.

In December 2016 Egyptian Airports Company announced plans to extend Terminal 2. EAC plans to expand the terminal and increase its capacity by two million passengers per year, thus taking the total capacity of the airport to 9.5 million. This also includes the construction of a new runway and 40 new airsides.[9]

In November 2019, it was announced part of the expansion of Terminal 2 had been completed increasing the airports annual capacity, from 7 million, to 9 million a year. The plan aims to increase the capacity to 20 million passengers per annum as the number of tourists visiting the resort city is rising, during winter in particular. For now, the number of gates was raised to 12 from 8. The total cost of development works in the airport has reached LE 800 million so far.[10]

Terminal 3[]

Terminal 3 was proposed in 2008 to increase the airport’s passenger handling capacity by 10 million. The airport would be expected to cater to 18 million passengers annually by 2025. The new terminal and runway were planned to be constructed adjacent to the el Salam road. Terminal three and its contact stands would occupy an area of about 183,000m² featuring a departure hall and an arrival hall, serving both international and domestic passengers. The terminal three was to face a new airfield to the north of the existing airport. Its origami shaped roof folds provide shades over the departure area, protect the facades from direct sunlight and provide natural lighting throughout the building. Taxiways and aprons were also to be constructed as part of the project. Other associated infrastructure were to include an electrical or mechanical plant, sheds for security services, a mosque, a car parking area and a wastewater treatment facility. The wastewater from the new building was to be connected to the existing sewer system and would be treated before being conveyed for the purpose of irrigation.[11]

Airlines and destinations[]

AirlinesDestinations
Aeroflot Moscow–Sheremetyevo (resumes 1 October 2021)[12]
Air Arabia Alexandria, Bergamo,[13] Cairo,[14] Yerevan[15]
Seasonal: Amman–Queen Alia, Jeddah,[16] Riyadh
Air Astana Seasonal charter: Almaty,[17] Nur-Sultan[17]
Air Bucharest Seasonal charter: Bucharest[18]
Air Cairo[19] Tashkent,[20] Yerevan
Seasonal charter: Tirana[21]
Air Moldova Seasonal charter: Chișinău[22]
Air Serbia Seasonal charter: Belgrade[23]
airBaltic Seasonal charter: Riga,[22] Tallinn,[24] Vilnius[25]
AlMasria Universal Airlines Seasonal: Cairo
Seasonal charter: Bologna,[26] Naples[27]
Animawings[28] Seasonal: Bucharest
Avia Traffic Company Bishkek[29]
Azerbaijan Airlines Seasonal: Baku[30]
Azur Air Ukraine Charter: Kyiv–Boryspil,[31] Lviv[31]
Seasonal charter: Kharkiv,[31] Odessa,[31] Zaporizhzhia[31]
Bees Airline Seasonal charter: Kyiv–Zhuliany,[32][22] Lviv
Belavia Charter: Brest,[22] Gomel,[22] Grodno,[22] Minsk,[33][22] Mogilev,[22] Vitebsk[22]
BH Air Seasonal charter: Sofia[22]
Chair Airlines Zürich
Corendon Airlines[34] Seasonal: Cologne/Bonn, Hannover[35]
Seasonal charter: Billund,[36] Copenhagen,[36] Gothenburg,[37] Leipzig/Halle,[38] Stockholm–Arlanda,[39]
DAT Seasonal charter: Copenhagen[40]
easyJet London–Luton,[41] London–Gatwick, Manchester, Milan–Malpensa[42]
Seasonal: Amsterdam (begins 12 October 2021),[43] Basel/Mulhouse (begins 3 November 2021), Berlin (begins 1 October 2021), Bristol (begins 3 November 2021),[44] Geneva (begins 3 November 2021), Naples (begins 2 November 2021),[45] Venice (begins 31 October 2021)[46]
Edelweiss Air[47] Zürich[48]
EgyptAir Alexandria, Cairo, Hurghada
Seasonal: London–Gatwick, Moscow–Domodedovo[49]
Enter Air[50] Seasonal charter: Katowice, Warsaw–Chopin
flydubai Seasonal: Dubai–International[51]
Flynas[52] Jeddah, Riyadh
FlyOne Seasonal charter: Chișinău[22]
Freebird Airlines[53] Seasonal: Cologne/Bonn (begins 7 November 2021)
GetJet Airlines Seasonal charter: Vilnius[22]
Gulf Air Seasonal: Bahrain[54]
HiSky Seasonal charter: Cluj–Napoca[55]
Holiday Europe Seasonal charter: Sofia[56]
Jordan Aviation Seasonal: Amman–Queen Alia
Neos[57] Bologna, Milan–Malpensa, Rome–Fiumicino, Verona
Seasonal: Bergamo, Naples, Rimini
Nile Air Cairo[58]
Pegasus Airlines Istanbul–Sabiha Gökçen[59]
Rossiya Airlines Moscow–Sheremetyevo[8]
S7 Airlines Moscow–Domodedovo (resumes 9 October 2021)[60]
Seasonal: Kazan (begins 2 November 2021),[60] Samara (begins 10 November 2021),[60] Ufa (begins 2 November 2021),[60] Yekaterinburg (begins 1 November 2021)[60]
Saudia[61] Jeddah, Riyadh
SkyUp[62] Charter: Kharkiv, Kyiv–Boryspil, Lviv, Odessa, Zaporizhzhia
Seasonal charter: Kherson, Mykolaiv
Smartlynx Airlines Seasonal charter: Tallinn[22]
Smartwings[63] Seasonal charter: Bratislava,[64] Brno, Ostrava, Prague
Sunday Airlines Charter: Almaty,[22] Nur–Sultan[22]
Seasonal charter: Aktau,[65] Aktobe,[22] Karaganda,[22] Kostanay,[65] Oral,[65] Oskemen,[65] Shymkent,[65] Taraz[65]
Swiss International Air Lines Seasonal: Geneva[66]
TUI Airways[67] Birmingham, Bristol (resumes 6 February 2022),[68] East Midlands (resumes 7 February 2022),[68] London–Gatwick, London–Stansted (resumes 14 November 2021),[68] Manchester
TUI fly Belgium[69] Brussels, Ostend/Bruges
Seasonal: Charleroi
TUI fly Netherlands Seasonal: Eindhoven
Turkish Airlines Istanbul
Ukraine International Airlines[70] Charter: Kyiv–Boryspil, Lviv, Odessa
Seasonal charter: Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia
Windrose Airlines Charter: Dnipropetrovsk,[22] Kyiv–Boryspil[22]
Seasonal charter: Kharkiv,[22] Lviv,[71] Odessa[22]
Wizz Air Milan–Malpensa,[72] Naples,[73] Rome–Fiumicino[74]

Accidents and incidents[]

  • On January 3, 2004, Flash Airlines Flight 604, en route to Cairo and then Paris as its final destination, crashed in the Red Sea shortly after taking off from Sharm El Sheikh, killing all 148 people on board. Causes for the accident include pilot error and instrument failure, but investigators have been unable to reach a consensus.
  • On August 23, 2015, Thomson Airways Flight 476, approaching Sharm El Sheikh at the end of a flight from London Stansted Airport with 189 passengers aboard, took evasive action to avoid a missile traveling toward it; the missile missed the airliner by about 1,000 feet (300 meters), and the plane landed safely. An investigation concluded that the missile was an Egyptian armed forces missile that had strayed from a military exercise.[75]

See also[]

References[]

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  2. ^ Airport information for HESH at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.Source: DAFIF.
  3. ^ Airport information for SSH at Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF (effective October 2006).
  4. ^ "Sharm El Sheikh International Airport". Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  5. ^ "Egyptair Express eyes Sharm el-Sheikh base with CS300s". ch-aviation. Retrieved 2018-08-20.
  6. ^ "Sharm el-Sheikh: UK to resume flights after safety ban". bbc.co.uk. 22 October 2019.
  7. ^ "TUI To Return To Resort City Sharm El Sheikh As Airport Security Restrictions Lifted". simpleflying.com. 3 November 2019.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b "Photos: Sharm El-Sheikh receives its 1st direct flight from Russia since 2015 ban". egypttoday.com. 9 August 2021.
  9. ^ Dey, Paromita. "Egypt: Tender for Sharm El-Sheikh airport works - ConstructionWeekOnline.com". www.constructionweekonline.com. Archived from the original on 14 January 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  10. ^ "Sharm El Sheikh Airport annual capacity becomes 9M passengers". egypttoday.com. 4 November 2019.
  11. ^ "The new terminal three and runway". airport-technology.com. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  12. ^ "Route Analysis: Moscow-Sharm el-Sheikh". routesonline.com. 1 September 2021.
  13. ^ "Air Arabia Egypt: New routes from Sharm El Sheikh to Bologna, Bergamo and Naples". ttgmena.com. 25 May 2021.
  14. ^ Casey, David (4 June 2021). "Routes in brief: Air Astana, flynas, GOL and more". routesonline.com.
  15. ^ "Air Arabia to operate flights between Sharm El Sheikh and Yerevan". armradio.am. 11 June 2021.
  16. ^ https://gulfbusiness.com/air-arabia-egypt-to-introduce-direct-flights-from-sharm-el-sheikh-to-jeddah/
  17. ^ Jump up to: a b Liu, Jim (28 May 2019). "Air Astana adds Sharm el Sheikh service from June 2019". routesonline.com.
  18. ^ "Charter programme". kusadasi.ro.
  19. ^ "Timetable". aircairo.com.
  20. ^ "Air Cairo is operating a new route between Sharm El Sheikh and Tashkent in Uzbekistan". aaco.org. 18 November 2020.
  21. ^ "Rinas / Flights start with Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt". diasporashqiptare.al.
  22. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u "Flight Schedules and Airline Availability". tez-tour.com.
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  28. ^ "Flight schedule". animawings.com.
  29. ^ "Flight Schedule". aero.kg. Retrieved 2019-05-20.
  30. ^ "Charter flights to open from Baku to Sharm El-Sheikh". azernews.az. Retrieved 2018-09-24.
  31. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Flights". anextour.com.ua.
  32. ^ "Airline Startup – Bees Takes On Ryanair's Buzz In Eastern Europe". simpleflying.com. 16 March 2021.
  33. ^ "Belavia resumes charter flights to Sharm el-Sheikh". 20 April 2016. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  34. ^ "Flights to Sharm El Sheikh". corendonairlines.com.
  35. ^ Liu, Jim (27 January 2020). "Corendon Airlines S20 Network expansion". routesonline.com.
  36. ^ Jump up to: a b "Flight". detur.dk.
  37. ^ https://www.detur.se/resor/egypten/sharmelsheik
  38. ^ Liu, Jim (30 October 2019). "Corendon Airlines Europe expands Leipzig network in W19". routesonline.com.
  39. ^ https://www.detur.se/resor/egypten/sharmelsheik
  40. ^ "Sharm El Sheikh". atlantisrejser.dk. 30 January 2018.
  41. ^ "EasyJet holidays adds 10 routes for summer 2021". travelweekly.co.uk. 11 February 2021.
  42. ^ "After 5 years easyJet returns to fly to Sharm El Sheik from Malpensa". malpensa24.it. 15 January 2020.
  43. ^ "easyJet from Amsterdam to Sharm el Sheikh and Innsbruck this winter". aviation24.be. 20 July 2021.
  44. ^ "EasyJet launches 10 winter holiday routes". travelweekly.co.uk. 20 July 2021.
  45. ^ "easyJet launches winter Naples-Sharm el-Sheikh route". lagenziadiviaggi.it. 26 July 2021.
  46. ^ https://www.easyjet.com/it/prenota/le-nostre-nuove-rotte
  47. ^ "Timetable". flyedelweiss.com.
  48. ^ Liu, Jim. "Edelweiss Air adds 3 African routes in 4Q20". Routesonline. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
  49. ^ "Russia resumes flights to Egyptian resorts after 6 years". independent.co.uk. 9 August 2021.
  50. ^ "Coral Travel". coraltravel.pl.
  51. ^ "Routes in brief: Flydubai, S7 Airlines, Qatar Airways and more". routesonline.com. 28 May 2021.
  52. ^ "Route map". flynas.com.
  53. ^ "Flight list". freebirdairlines.com.
  54. ^ "Gulf Air Returns To Alexandria, Sharm El Sheikh This Summer". newsofbahrain.com. 4 June 2021.
  55. ^ "HiSky will operate charter flights for Amara Tour from for airports in the country". boardingpass.ro.
  56. ^ Liu, Jim (19 November 2019). "Holiday Europe adds Egyptian routes from Sofia in W19". routesonline.com.
  57. ^ "Flight schedule". neosair.it/en.
  58. ^ "Route map". nileair.com. 30 January 2018.
  59. ^ "Pegasus Adds New Egyptian Service from late-Oct 2014". airlineroute.net. Retrieved 4 June 2015.
  60. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "S7 Airlines expands Egypt, UAE service". routesonline.com. 9 September 2021.
  61. ^ "Flight Schedule". saudia.com.
  62. ^ "freight monitor". online.joinup.ua.
  63. ^ "Charter flights". eximtours.cz.
  64. ^ "Travel Service Slovensko S19 Sharm el Sheikh service changes". routesonline.com. 29 May 2019.
  65. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f "Residents of Taraz to be able to fly to Sharm el-Sheikh". caan.asia. 29 October 2018.
  66. ^ "SWISS Shifts Focus To Leisure Travel, Sustainability". airlinegeeks.com. 20 July 2021.
  67. ^ "Flight Timetable". tui.co.uk.
  68. ^ Jump up to: a b c "TUI targets a regional return to Sharm El Sheikh in 2021". ukaviation.news. 22 October 2020.
  69. ^ "Sharm El Sheikh". tuifly.be.
  70. ^ "Charter flights timetable". flyuia.com.
  71. ^ Liu, Jim (20 November 2017). "WindRose adds Lviv – Sharm el Sheikh service in W17". Routesonline. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
  72. ^ "Wizz Air to commence Milan services to Sharm el-Sheikh and Casablanca in Jun-2021". centreforaviation.com. 11 May 2021.
  73. ^ https://simpleflying.com/wizz-air-naples-expansion/
  74. ^ "Inside Wizz Air's New Rome Expansion: 32 New Routes". simpleflying.com. 13 May 2021.
  75. ^ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34754577

External links[]

Media related to Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport at Wikimedia Commons

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