Egypt launches first green flight from Africa

By Nneka Nwogwugwu

The first test flight in Africa operated by Egypt’s flagship carrier, EgyptAir with environmentally friendly services has been launched.

This project was led by the Minister of Civil Aviation, Mohamed Manar, who departed from Cairo International Airport on Saturday and headed to Paris.

This comes within the framework of the ministry’s strategy to achieve sustainable development and preserve the environment.

The plane is a Boeing 787-9 “Dreamliner” with the flight number MS 799 and is carrying 219 passengers on board.

The flight will be recorded in the history of EgyptAir as the first flight operated by the national company with environmentally friendly services and the first among African airlines and coincides with the Ministry of Aviation’s celebration of the 92nd National Day of Egyptian Civil Aviation, which falls on 26 January.

Manar stated that, “the strategy of the Ministry of Civil Aviation in the field of environment comes from the directives of the political leadership, which pays great attention to the environment file and the efforts of the Egyptian state in all international forums to confront the phenomenon of climate change and keep pace with Egypt’s 2030 Vision.

“The Ministry of Aviation plans to confront the effects of climate change through the presence of an integrated and sustainable environmental system that applies all local and international recommendations and legislation in the field of aviation related to environmental protection and pollution reduction.”

On his part, the pilot, Amr Abul-Enein — the President of the EgyptAir Holding Company — who will lead the plane on the return flight from Paris, expressed his happiness to operate the first flight with environmentally friendly services and products and his pride that EgyptAir will be the first airline in Africa to operate a flight of this kind.

He also added that “the national company aims for 2022 to be the beginning of the launch of many sustainable development initiatives, as a timetable has been set for all flights to Europe with environmentally friendly products and services by 2025 to be circulated on all flights of the airline network.”

EgyptAir’s plan aims to reduce the use of single-use plastic materials on its flights by 90% and replace them with environmentally friendly products.