Budget airlines’ share of the region’s aviation market has doubled over the past decade, and made up nearly 30% of total seat capacity in 2024, according to a report (pdf) from global travel data provider OAG. Egyptian low-cost carriers (LCC) and the country’s position as an entry point into Africa is a large part of why regional LCC’s annual capacity growth average of 11.5% is outpacing the region’s traditional carriers’ average of only 1.4% y-o-y.

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The boom in the region’s LCC capacity has helped make the Middle East aviation sector the second-fastest growing region globally — hiking up 5% in the post-pandemic period since 2019, according to the report finds. But despite this recent growth, the region still stands as only the sixth largest globally in terms of airplane seats, with 270 mn one way seats in 2024.

Much of this is due to increased flights in and out of Egypt — from both local and foreign LCCs. Egypt flights make up 96% of Saudi state-owned airline Flyadeal’s Africa capacity and 81% of the Kingdom’s budget airline Flynas. It’s a similar story for the UAE’s AIr Arabia with 73% of Africa traffic heading into Egypt.

Egypt has become an important part of this due to its location, with local airports functioning as a key link to the African market for regional budget carriers.

It’s little surprise that LCCs have found high demand for Egypt routes, as “cost stands out as one of the most important factors to those booking in Egypt,” Air Cairo Logistics Specialist Khaled Nour El Din told EnterpriseAM. This gives “low-cost carriers a huge advantage over other players,” he added.

Some of this demand is reflected in the expansion of Egyptian budget airways, like Air Cairo, which now counts 37 airplanes among its fleet. Its fleet by number of airplanes is now more than half of that currently run by EgyptAir, however, most of Air Cairo’s fleet are of much smaller models than the larger airplanes run by the national flag carrier. At present, Air Cairo operates nearly 200 weekly flights across 50 international and domestic locations, according to its website.

But it’s expected that Egyptian budget airlines will continue to grow — much like their counterparts in the Gulf. Flaynas reported a 63% capacity increase between 2019 and 2024, while the UAE’s Flydubai experienced 56% growth. Flydubai stands as the region’s largest budget fleet, including 88 Boeing 737s, which fly 135 routes across 58 countries.

Success won’t only be found in offering a cheaper service, but filling gaps in the aviation market. While EgyptAir focuses primarily on connecting Cairo with other capital cities, Air Cairo is looking to connect other international destinations with Egyptian destinations outside of the capital, Nour El Din told us.

To make this work, Air Cairo is going to need a bigger fleet. The budget carrier is planning to more than double its fleet to more than 70 planes, Nour El Din told us. To put this in perspective, Air Cairo’s fleet only stood at just four planes five years ago.

Fellow budget airlines in the Gulf are also planning big capacity expansions, and at much larger levels. Flynas is set to boost its fleet by at least 280 jets by 2034, after it placed a USD 30 bn order with Airbus last July. Flydubai is also mulling a widebody jet order from Boeing numbering in the hundreds, according to unconfirmed reports in May.

Air Cairo is also lining up a launch for freight operations, Nour El Din told us. While the airline focuses on passenger operations at present, the airline has retained a licence to expand into cargo operations and has a dedicated cargo team, which is working on securing the company’s first cargo aircraft, he said.

The airline is also eying its own aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul facilities, which have until now been done by EgyptAir’s facilities. Air Cairo is mulling “opening its own maintenance, repair, and overhaul facilities in Hurghada,” Nour El Din said without disclosing further details.

Your top infrastructure stories for the week:

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