A major airline looks at two more flights between Africa, US

While once frequently overlooked by travelers from the U.S., the African continent is becoming increasingly popular as a travel destination. 

A recent United Nations report found that, with a 12% spike in international arrivals in the first six months of 2025, Africa recorded faster growth in global tourism than any other continent. 

The northern part of the country, home to countries such as Morocco, Algeria, and Egypt, saw a 14% increase.

Multiple airlines have also been moving to meet the growing interest and demand with new routes. London-based low-cost carrier EasyJet started running a new flight between London’s Gatwick Airport (LGW) and Egypt's Luxor International Airport (LXR) at the end of 2024.

United Airlines  (UAL)  has also tested a seasonal route between Newark Liberty and Marrakech at the start of the new year.

While it already flies to New York, Newark, and Washington, Egyptian flag carrier Egyptair is now seeking Department of Transportation (DoT) permission to add Chicago and Los Angeles to its network with flights from Cairo International Airport (CAI).

Egyptair seeks permission to launch new flights to Los Angeles, Chicago

The airline submitted filings for permission to launch flights into LAX and O'Hare (ORD) International Airports for a two-year period; the flights would start, respectively, in May and June 2026. 

The airline, currently the only one offering nonstop service between Egypt and the United States, used to fly into Los Angeles in the 1990s but scrapped the route as part of a network shakeup in 2001.

Related: A low-cost airline has launched a rare new flight to Egypt

The two routes would run on the Airbus A350  (EADSF)  planes that Egyptair ordered and is slated to take into possession at the start of 2026. They would take approximately 12 hours to Los Angeles and 10 hours to Chicago.

The expansion would also bring Egyptair's U.S. network to a total 12 destinations and 35 weekly flights.

The stated goal is to start running the Chicago and Los Angeles flights several times a week and expand to daily by 2027.

Egyptair: "The numbers look good, but we need to have at least six or seven A350s"

"The first batch of seven A350s is going to complement the network and work in tandem with the 787s because the A350 is higher capacity," Egyptair CEO Captain Ahmed Adel told Simple Flying at the Paris Air Show back in June. 

"Basically, they're going to work on the same network," he said. "Once we get north of eight aircraft, we're going to start opening new routes. One of the main routes on the menu will be LAX, because the numbers look good, but we need to have at least six or seven A350s to operate that."

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Egyptair's current flights to eastern U.S. cities run on a fleet of Boeing 777 and Boeing 787  (BA)  planes, but the carrier specifically ordered the newer Airbus models with the goal of expanding its network of long-haul flights to North America.

As a Star Alliance member and codeshare partner with United Airlines, Egyptair will also use the Los Angeles and Chicago routes to connect to a larger number of smaller U.S. cities as well as northward to Canada, through the same codeshare partnership with Air Canada.

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