Egyptian flag carrier Egypt Air has been granted approval to resume non stop flights to Karachi from Cairo. The airline plans to operate 3 weekly flights between Cairo and Karachi. The airline is preparing to resumes Karachi flights after a suspension since 2001. The airline could start the flights in the second or third quarter of 2021. Cairo was a route PIA operated for decades using it’s Boeing 707 and later Airbus A300s and A310s. PIA used to connect to Frankfurt and Damascus. The bilateral trade between Pakistan and Egypt in 2017 stood at $154 million, which was less given the market size of both countries.
PIA started flying to Cairo in 1955 at the same time when it merged with Orient Airways. The newly relaunched airline also inaugurated its first international route, Karachi to London Heathrow Airport via Cairo and Rome, using the newly acquired Lockheed L-1049C Super Constellations.
PIA Flight 705
Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705 (PK705) was a Boeing 720 airliner that crashed while descending to land at Cairo International Airport on 20 May 1965. Of the 121 passengers and crew on board, all but 6 were killed. The accident, the fourth and worst involving a Boeing 720, was the deadliest to occur in Egypt at the time and remains the third-deadliest, behind Flash Airlines Flight 604 and Metrojet Flight 9268.
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Flight 705 on 20 May 1965 was an inaugural flight between Karachi, Pakistan and London, United Kingdom and was carrying distinguished guests and journalists among the 114 passengers. The aircraft was scheduled to stop at Dharan in Saudi Arabia, Cairo and then Geneva before completing its journey to London. As the aircraft was on final approach to Cairo International Airport, the pilot reported problems with the flaps; shortly thereafter, the aircraft crashed southeast of the airport and broke up as it exploded into flames. Six of the passengers were thrown clear of the wreckage, but everyone else on board was killed. Among the dead was the Chinese aircraft designer Huang Zhiqian, who was the chief designer of the fighter jet Shenyang J-8.