Summary
- EgyptAir has added Shanghai to its passenger network, joining Beijing, Guangzhou, and Hangzhou in mainland China.
- Shanghai will likely be its third-longest path to Asia this winter and eighth overall.
- Unless the transfer time is prolonged to an uncompetitive six hours, the brand new route’s schedule just isn’t great for two-way connectivity over its Cairo hub.
EgyptAir has announced that Shanghai Pudong will likely be served. Unbelievably, the primary flight will take off in mid-November, lower than a month away. This is very little lead in time for any latest service, let alone long-haul, which really needs six months’ notice. EgyptAir is in expansion mode. Amongst other developments, it recently launched Delhi, Dhaka, Manchester, Newark, Port Sudan, and charter flights to São Paulo. It is usually keen to fly to Los Angeles.
EgyptAir to Shanghai
Not previously served on a passenger basis, Egypt’s flag carrier will take off to the Shanghai metropolis on November sixteenth. Running three weekly, evaluation of schedules shows that the 5,210-mile (8,384 km) route will likely be its third-longest to Asia this winter after Tokyo Narita and Jakarta.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Easy Flying
Shanghai is scheduled as follows, with all times local. It’s going to use the 346-seat Boeing 777-300ER, by far the airline’s highest-capacity equipment that can be good for freight. It’s EgyptAir’s second most-used long-haul type by winter flights after the 787-9.
- Cairo to Shanghai: MS951, 02:00-18:55 (10h 55m)
- Shanghai to Cairo: MS952, 01:05-07:35 (12h 30m)
What about times?
The 02:00 departure time from Cairo is way later than lots of EgyptAir’s other Asia-bound flights that leave around then within the week that Shanghai takes off. For instance, Beijing is at 23:00, Tokyo is at 23:10, and Guangzhou is at 00:05. Only Hangzhou, not removed from Shanghai, is close (02:15). There is no such thing as a indication that the airline will end Hangzhou to consolidate at Shanghai.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Easy Flying
Furthermore, the 07:35 arrival time is way later than the others, amongst them Tokyo (04:00), Guangzhou (05:10), Beijing (05:55), and Hangzhou (06:35). Only Jakarta is close (07:30). Shanghai’s inbound and outbound schedule will, in fact, influence transfer traffic and competitiveness.
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Not many places will connect
Evaluation of booking data for January-August 2023 shows that the point-to-point Cairo-Shanghai market had around 16,000 roundtrip passengers, making it Cairo’s seventh-largest unserved Asian market. It didn’t have much traffic, especially for the space, with most passengers connecting in Dubai with Emirates.
While Chinese tour groups will little doubt profit EgyptAir, it’s going to depend on those transferring for traffic and revenue. Yet its schedule signifies that connectivity – with competitive timings in each directions – is proscribed. Generally, the issue is the 02:00 departure.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Easy Flying
Examining connecting markets based on flying not more than 50% out of your way (versus a non-stop) and waiting not more than five hours (longer than what is taken into account competitive) shows that only Aswan, Athens, Kuwait, Luxor, Milan, Rome, and Sharm El Sheikh connect in each ways – not many.
Expanding to waiting not more than six hours adds others, including Abuja, Amman, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brussels, Copenhagen, Douala, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Juba, Larnaca, Lagos, London Heathrow, Madrid, Manchester, and Paris CDG. However the longer the connection time, even in a single direction, the more price becomes an element.
What do you make of all of it? Tell us within the comments.