Avis du vol entre Rome et Cairo en classe Economique avec ITA Airways

INTRODUCTION

Hello everyone, happy 2026!
After a 2025 full of flights is time to make the new year equally in the air

While I was in Rome in the first weekend of November my family and I started to discuss about a family trip the following January
My father wanted to bring my sister and I to Maldives since he had been there twice (the last with mom on January 2025)
However, even if the scenario seemed amazing, both my sister and I would have had some difficulties getting a week off with a short notice

One week before this discussion the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza finally opened. Being my sister and I quite interested in Egyptian history we launch the idea for a long weekend in Cairo

After finding good dates for everyone, happening to be from Thursday 29th January to Sunday 1st February, we searched for the flights
For my family, a convenient flight was with WizzAir flying from Rome-FCO to Giza Sphinx-SPX
I immediately dropped off the idea of a direct flight from Milan since they had bad time scheduled and all departed from MXP
The best solution for me was flying from Milan-LIN through FCO with ITA Airways

Since the time schedule for my parents return flight was not feasible with mine (their flight departed quite earlier than mine, forcing me to stay alone on Sunday) they ended up choosing to fly with ITA Airways from FCO
Even if the solution was more expensive, it erase the risk of being on different inbound flights

We booked the flights on the 17th November
The whole stuff costed us around 400 euros per person

When we booked the flight FCO-CAI leg was scheduled with the A321neo
ITA Airways equips this plane in 3-class configuration with a full lie-flat Business and personal IFE also on Y+ and Y
Unfortunately later it was changed into a classical configured A320neo

Some stats:
2nd flight of 2026 (as of February)

Overall great-circle distance flown in 2026 (as of the reported flight): 2.662 km|1.416 nm

1st time on FCO-CAI route
1st time transiting in FCO (my home airport)
1st time landing into CAI
1st time in Egypt
1st time in continental Africa

THE FLIGHT

I disembark from my flight from Milan at 10:40, exactly two hours before the leg to Cairo
While I moved to the main departure lounge, my parents and my sister were dropped by my uncle at the Terminal
It took around 20 minutes for them to clear security, we met around 11:10

Our gate was about to be announced

On our way to boarding area E, used for extra-Schengen operations

Passport control area is equipped with tons of eGates usable also by many non European passport holders

Literally two minutes after we cleared the control

Boarding area E is equipped with many luxury stores

As we entered the area the gate was announced, E44
It's part of the Satellite E31-44
The building is connected to the terminal by an APM called "SkyBridge"
Since the 1st January 2026 the APM was dismissed for technical reasons, being temporarily replaced by a bus service

A walkway will be built in the next future,
In my opinion, I think it's such a pity to follow this solution, being the walking distance quite large (more than 500 meters)

The bus, however, gives very good spotting opportunities

ITA Airways A330neo docked at pier E11-24

Medsky A320 
It's owned my Malta MedAir and operated under Medsky name

Delta Airlines A330neo

Pier A1-10 is undergoing a deep renovation

The Satellite is very cozy in my opinion, large waiting rooms, big windows and some shops

Out gate was getting ready to open

Maybe the satellite is the most spotting friendly part of FCO
Large glass facades, nice heavies taxiing around and two runways nearby

Turkish Airlines A330 getting ready to fly home in Istanbul-IST

Delta Airlines and ITA Airways A330neos

LATAM Triple-7 bound to Sao Paulo-GRU

El Al 737 boarding for Tel Aviv-TLV

Sichuan Airlines A330 waiting to go back to Chengdu-TFU
It carries a special livery about SCB Sichuan Bank

ITA Airways A330neo getting ready to go to Dehli-DEL

Pegasus A321neo 

The Turkish A330 departing home behind a A-Jet A321neo

Meanwhile the LATAM 777 was leaving the gate
When the engines came to life the vibration was noticeable from the interior

Crossing its path with an ITA Airways A330neo just landed from GRU

The bird who will bring us to Egypt

ITA Airways A320neo EI-HOJ
First flight on 4th March 2024 (1.9 years old at the moment of the flight)
Delivered to AZ late the same month
Equipped with 180 seats in C-Y mixed configuration, it's dedicated to Italian football player Ciro Ferrara

Half a hour before the scheduled departure time the gate was opened

Walking towards the plane…and towards warmer weather

Meanwhile, an Air Canada A330 pulled in

Corporate pictures

I took my seat in the second half of the plane
My parents were sitting in row 7 or 8

Legroom was decent, perfect for a 3-hour hop

Boarding was quite fast, the plane seemed almost 100% full

Perfectly on time we left the gate

Poste Air Cargo 737s and a Vueling A320

UPS Airlines 767F at the cargo apron

Lining up on runway 25 and departing moments before 13

Focene town

Banking over Tyrrean Sea while pointing south

Flying above the clouds while crossing southern Italy

40 minutes into the flight the meal service started
The crew was overall very polite and professional

Each tray consisted of three sandwiches, beans-and-tuna salad, a fruit salad and an apple and cocoa crumble

The sandwiches were very tasty
From left to right:
Zucchini and mayo, turkey breast, radish and cream cheese

The bean-and-tuna salad was pretty tasty, probably the best part of the meal
The fruit salad was quite fresh, the dessert too sweet for me

I got a Coke Zero

After the trays were recovered I lower the blinder (outside it was just sea alternating to clouds) watching the third season of "Alice in Borderland"

Around one hour later the disembark card was delivered

Meanwhile, we're approaching Egyptian airspace

A large city along the Nile's Delta

The sun was setting, revealing the reflex of the river Nile

Cairo Airport in the distance
The airfield seems pretty big

I think it's pretty impressive to see how Cairo is an alternation of desert…

…and heavy built housing districts

10th of Ramadan prison

Lining up on runway 23R

Flaps down

Last moments in the air

At 16:42, thirteen minutes in advance on scheduled, we touched down at Cairo International Airport

The runway we landed on is on the north side of the airport, while the Terminal 3 (where ITA operates from) is on the south side
The entire taxi was almost 7 km and fifteen minutes
Pretty long, but not lacking some nice spotting occasions

This A320 carries Cambodia Airways livery, I guess is on leasing to an Egyptian airlines

Nile Air A321

Air Cairo A320 docked in front of Cairo Airport sign
Definitely the right place

Air Cairo A320neo
Love the color pattern on the tail

Petroleum Air Services CRJ-900
I've never heard about this airline, offering both commercial flights and support to Egyptian oil industry

Nesma Airlines A320 and Air Cairo A320neo

EgyptAir Cargo A330F

Some stored 777s and A330s:
Biman Bangladesh Airlines, EgyptAir in StarAlliance livery, Air Leisure and Libyan Airways

Undefined 777-200

Terminal 2, with an Aeroflot 737 and British Airways A320

EgyptAir 737 and E-Jets

Finally approaching Terminal 3, with an Egyptair A320neo

ITA used to operate at Terminal 2, but a week before it was moved to Terminal 3
The latter hosts Egyptair and other StarAlliance members

A blank A330

Flynas A320neo

Docking at gate G10 one minute before 17

The jetway was connected soon after, disembark started less than 10 minutes after stopping

It then started the mess

Egypt requires an entry voucher (worth 25USD) that can be bought at the bank before passport control
However, they don't accepted credit cards, forcing passengers to change money to the desk next to the bank
The whole process was messy and slow

After getting the voucher we lined up for the passport control
The mess was also there
Two agents were sitting in the same booth, handling multiple groups and dividing tasks
While one was checking the passport the other was stamping it

Very risky considering they were getting like 8-10 passport a time

Clearing immigration 45 minutes after docking at the gate

The baggage reclaim hall
My suitcase was already revolving on the belt

The arrivals hall with a golden statue welcoming passengers

We got outside minutes before 18
Our driver arrived moments later
He didn't know ITA was moved to Terminal 3 and was waiting at Terminal 2

It took almost one hour to drive from the airport to our hotel, located right in front of Giza Pyramids

FLIGHT-RADAR

Departure from FCO

Arrival into CAI