By Akram Medhat
All Egyptian airports and EgyptAir are celebrating the 89th Egyptian Civil Aviation Day, which falls on January 26 every year and this year coincides with the start of EgyptAir flights from Sphinx International Airport.
The celebration of Egyptian Civil Aviation Day dates back to the day Egyptian pilot Mohamed Sedki took off from Berlin airport on an exciting journey across Europe in his plane, Faiza, which he bought in Germany with his own money and named after Princess Faiza, daughter of King Fuad I. He flew it solo from Berlin, moving from one place to another until he reached Cairo on January 26, 1930.
When he arrived at Heliopolis airport in Masr El Gedida, he found crowds gathered at the airport, and he was received by Mahmoud Fahmy El-Nokrashy, Minister of Transport, Naguib El-Gharabli, Minister of Justice, and a number of the nation's leading figures, foremost among them the national economist Mohamed Talaat Harb.
From that date, the government was encouraged, and in February 1930 Mahmoud Fahmy El-Nokrashy, Minister of Transport, issued orders to resume work at Almaza Airport, which was prepared for civil aviation in February 1931 and officially opened on June 2, 1932.
These steps encouraged Egypt's son Kamal Elwi, who traveled to Paris, learned to fly, bought a plane and returned to Cairo to lead a campaign to form EgyptAir. His call resonated with that of the pioneer of the Egyptian economy, Talaat Harb, to establish an airline to handle air transport at home and abroad. To celebrate this day, it was decided that January 26 of each year would be a national day for Egyptian civil aviation.
