The flight was carrying 167 passengers.

The Sphinx International Airport, which was inaugurated in January 2020, is located on the desert road between Cairo and Alexandria – 45 kilometres from the Pyramids of Giza.

The airport aims to relieve congestion at Cairo International Airport as well as lower traffic jams in the capital.

It also aims to improve the accessibility to tourists for various historical and touristic sites, including the under-construction Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM).

More visitors

The airport's total area after expansion work stands at 24,000 square metres up from 4,500 square metres.

Meanwhile, the airport can now receive one million passengers per year after its capacity was expanded to 900 passengers/hr up from 300 passengers/hr.

The Egyptian Airports Company said in a statement today that it has eased all procedures for passengers at the airport as part of the government’s plan to attract 25-30 million visitors by the year 2028 up from the current 14-15 million figures.