At the Airport

Aswan Airport

EgyptAir occupies counters 4 to 7 in the check-in hall of Aswan Airport. Three of the four counters are dedicated to Economy Class passengers and one to Business Class passengers, with the queues for the respective classes being very well marked out. As we flew out early in the morning, there was no one queueing up in the Business queue and only a handful of passengers in the Economy Class queue. As our tour company had performed the check-in before we reached the airport, we whizzed through to the boarding area. Unlike Cairo Airport, we were required to clear only two security checks, one at the main entrance and another before the boarding area.

Abu Simbel Airport

Abu Simbel Airport is a very small airport, and the check-in counters are immediately visible when we enter the terminal building. There are only five check-in counters in the airport terminal. EgyptAir occupies counters four and five in the terminal building. There did not seem to be any distinction between Business and Economy Class queues. We did not have to go through check-in because we had already been issued our return boarding passes. Like Aswan Airport, we had two security checks to access the waiting area.

The Aircraft

EgyptAir uses the single-aisle B737-800 for this 30-minute short hop between Aswan and Abu Simbel.

The Cabin

The EgyptAir B737-800 has 144 seats, 24 recliner seats in Business Class and 120 seats in Economy Class. The airline decked its B737-800 Economy Class cabin with their signature blue tones that were seen in the Horus logo painted on the aircraft’s fuselage. The use of yellow lighting throughout the cabin made it look gloomy and aged. The windows in the cabin did not help in letting sufficient natural light in to elevate the sense of gloominess.

Lavatories for Economy Class passengers are located at the back of the aircraft. As the B737-800 is a smaller aircraft, the space allocated is quite limited. The lavatory was clean, perhaps due to the low usage for this short flight time. The use of white lighting in the lavatory made the lavatory look fresh and clean. There is a small sink fitted in the lavatory, and the amenities are limited to hand soap (other than the usual toilet paper and tissues), understandable for a short 30-minute domestic flight.

The Seat

EgyptAir B737-800 Economy Class seats are arranged in a 3-3 configuration, each with a seat pitch of 31″ and measures 17″ wide. All seats can provide a 4″ recline via the recline button on each seat’s armrest. I find the legroom on the Economy Class seats quite good. The seat has thick padding, which is great even when flying longer distances. The tray table was quite sizeable, great for passengers who wanted to entertain themselves using a laptop or a tablet. EgyptAir fits its Economy Class seats with a single pocketed seat pocket, which is useful for passengers to stow bigger items. I like the individual air vents that somehow allow me to control the temperature in my seat. Other seat controls, like reading light and flight attention buttons, are fitted on the ceiling above each Economy Class seat.

Inflight Entertainment

EgyptAir B737-800s in Economy Class were not fitted with an individual personal TV; rather, a drop-down screen from the ceiling was installed in every few seats. It seemed that the main purpose of this screen was to play safety videos. The screen displayed the flight route information for the rest of the flight. I found a digital panel to control audio and a headphone jack on the armrest. As the flight was short, I did not try to see if the audio channels worked.

Meal Service

As this route between Aswan and Abu Simbel is a 30-minute flight, no meals were served onboard. The flight crew went around distributing bottles of water to all passengers.

Service

The flight was too short to have any meaningful interaction with the flight crew. Our only interactions with the cabin crew were at boarding, water runs, and disembarkation. I can see the crew wearing their smiles, welcoming passengers, and during drinks distribution. They were also seen diligently inspecting the cabin for take-off and landing and another time to collect trash.

Afterthought

The Economy Class seats on EgyptAir B737-800 are comfortable due to their thick padding and legroom. As this is an older aircraft, seats were not fitted with IFE but with an old-school radio. But this does not bother me as the journey between Aswan and Abu Simbel is only 30 mins. Despite having a short flight time, the warmth and welcome from the crew can still be felt.