EgyptAir is planning on launching two new routes to the USA, together with its longest flight but…
EgyptAir including Chicago & Los Angeles routes
EgyptAir has filed with the Division of Transportation (DOT), requesting permission to launch flights to Los Angeles (LAX) as of Might 2026, and Chicago (ORD) as of June 2026.
The airline is requesting the mandatory exemption as quickly as potential, in order that it could begin advertising and promoting these flights. There’s no motive EgyptAir shouldn’t get the exemption authority that permits it to function these flights, so I’d think about the airline will observe by means of on this.
EgyptAir’s large physique fleet at the moment consists of 5 Boeing 777-300ERs, eight Boeing 787-9s, 4 Airbus A330-200s, and 4 Airbus A330-300s. That being stated, the airline is fairly maxed out on using these planes, and plans to quickly begin taking supply of Airbus A350-900s, which can enable for a major growth. So I’d guess that the airline will both use Boeing 787-9s for these routes, or the model new Airbus A350-900s.
The Chicago route will cowl a distance of 6,149 miles, whereas the Los Angeles route will cowl a distance of seven,606 miles, making the latter (by far) the longest flight in EgyptAir’s community.
I’ve reviewed EgyptAir’s Boeing 787-9 enterprise class. The airline has reverse herringbone seats, that are fairly aggressive. Whereas the laborious product is sort of good, nearly every little thing else leaves one thing to be desired. Then once more, my opinions on something associated to Egypt are apparently not legitimate, so I’ll simply go away it at that. 😉
Maybe what’s most fascinating about this new Los Angeles service is that it might imply that LAX would have a nonstop connection to all six inhabited continents. For what it’s value, this route would technically be a resumption, as EgyptAir flew to Los Angeles many years in the past.
How these routes match into EgyptAir’s community
For context, Chicago and Los Angeles can be EgyptAir’s fifth and sixth locations in North America. The airline additionally flies to New York (JFK), Newark (EWR), Toronto (YYZ), and Washington (IAD).
The Chicago route looks as if a secure(ish) sufficient wager that feeds into an enormous United hub (and EgyptAir and United are each in Star Alliance). Nonetheless, I’m just a little extra skeptical of the viability of one thing just like the Los Angeles service:
- The economics of extremely lengthy haul flights are difficult, and this flight is 2,000 miles longer than EgyptAir’s service to New York
- There’s much more demand for journey to Africa from New York, Washington, and Toronto, than there’s from Los Angeles
- Whereas Los Angeles can be a United hub, the airline doesn’t have as a lot connectivity as on the different hubs; you’d mainly simply be funneling in a little bit of site visitors from the West Coast, and people are individuals that might additionally probably route by means of the East Coast
- Los Angeles has a ton of rich individuals connecting to locations that might be served one-stop through Cairo, however a overwhelming majority of them would as an alternative elect to fly with Emirates, Qatar, and so on.
So I might be fallacious, however I really feel like this route is perhaps extra motivated by status and “Hollywood” than by site visitors and yield figures. Then once more, that may hardly be the primary time a authorities owned airline launched a route for that motive.
Backside line
EgyptAir intends to launch two new routes to the USA, together with a brand new flight to Los Angeles as of Might 2026, and a brand new flight to Chicago as of June 2026. Whereas the flight aren’t but on sale, the airline has filed with the DOT requesting permission so as to add these companies, so hopefully that occurs quickly.
Chicago appears logical sufficient, on condition that it’s a United hub, so there’s plenty of connectivity. Nonetheless, I stay a bit extra skeptical in regards to the potential profitability of Los Angeles flights, given the size of the flight, the site visitors flows, and so on.
What do you make of EgyptAir including flights to Chicago & Los Angeles? Do you suppose the airline will succeed?
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