The festival motto this year is “Peace message from Egypt to the world.” It aims to promote Egyptian tourism in general and sports tourism in particular.

The festival is sponsored by the Ministry of Youth and Sports in cooperation with the Ministry of Defense, Ministry Tourism and Antiquities and the Ministry of Interior. Egyptian authorities have provided unprecedented support to the event since the beginning.

More than 200 professional and world champion skydivers from 30 countries will have the opportunity to jump over the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Pyramids of Giza.

“It is the biggest number ever of skydivers gathered in one Egyptian festival at the Giza plateau. It has not happened before in any skydiving event,” Yehia El-Jafari, the festival’s media representative told Ahram Online.

The participating skydivers hail from Brazil, Belgium, Cyprus, Canada, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Greece, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, New Zealand, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Solvenia, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Switzerland, Spain, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United Arab of Emirates and Egypt.

More than a thousand jumps will be carried out during the festival.

The professional skydivers will jump over four days from 1-4 November.

Each skydiver will have three jumps every day over four days. The drop zone will be at Khafre’s Pyramid area.

“It is wide space for landing zone. It was chosen due to logistics reason,” he said.

Khafre Pyramid is the second, tallest, and largest of the three pyramids of Giza. It is built on a vast base of 215.25 meters (706 ft) with a height of 136.6 meters (448 feet).

The jumps will be made from C130 aircraft belonging to the Egyptian Air Force. Skydivers will jump from an altitude of 15,000 feet. It is the maximum height possible without using oxygen devices.

Festival Schedule:

On the first day, jumps will take place between 10am to 4pm, thereafter lasting from 8:30am to 4pm through the fourth. On the fifth, skydivers will rest and depart.

Tandem skydiving (first-time or student skydivers harnessed to a certified instructor) will take place 6-7 November.

It is suitable for the first-time jumpers, beginners, or those who have just fallen in love with the sport. They will be jumping from military Mi-17 transport helicopters.

“Four air jumps are dedicated only for Egyptians skydivers. The maximum altitude of the tandem jump is 10,000 feet from the helicopter. Tandem skydiving is very safe activity,” El-Jafari explained.

“It costs $450 for Egyptians. It is cheaper than in comparison to any other place. Anyone can buy ticket online from our website,” he confirmed.

Safety procedures

The festival is taking precautionary measures against coronavirus during the jumps, inside the hotels and buses. Six hotel buses will run a shuttle service to avoid crowds and skydivers will take PCR tests on their arrival and before departure.

The festival is following guidelines issued by Egypt’s Health Ministry regarding the wearing of masks, practicing hygiene, and maintaining physical distancing.

“We strictly applied healthy safe measures to all the visitors of the place whether landing services, media figures, journalists or organizers and photographers,” he said.

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