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 CAI-FCO 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
ROUTING
Enchainement de vols
- 1
- 2
- 3AZ 897 - Economy - Cairo → Rome - Airbus A320neo
- 4AZ 2130 - Economy - Rome → Milan - Airbus A320
Some stats:
3rd flight of 2026 (as of February)
Overall great-circle distance flown in 2026 (as of the reported flight): 4.774 km|2.578 nm
1st time on CAI-FCO route
BEFORE THE FLIGHT
The day before leaving we made online check-in through ITA's app
For unknown reasons the boarding pass was not available on CAI-FCO route, forcing us to stop at the counter
My family got 9D-E-F seats
We also received an e-mail from ITA asking to check the hand luggage
THE FLIGHT
The weekend in Egypt was marvelous
We visited the old Egyptian museum, the newly opened Grand Egyptian Museum, Giza Pyramids and Saqqara necropolis, plus Cairo's old town
The entire experience was worth the time, I'd not been disappointed
On Sunday morning, we visited the GEM and had a quick lunch near the hotel
With the flight scheduled for 17:55, we decided to be at the airport around 15
The choice was made to have time to check luggage and buy last-time souvenirs
We left the hotel minutes before 14, the driver anticipated we'd have encountered some trafic
At 14:50 we arrived at Cairo International Airport
A brief car inspection by police was necessary to access the terminal area
ITA Airways was operating at Terminal 3 since a few days, before it was hosted at Terminal 2
Being dropped of perfectly on time on our schedule
The check-in hall was nice, nothing particular
Most of the flights seemed to be delayed, ours was still on time
Contrarily to many airports, the security inspection was made before accessing the check-in area
However, the bags weren't opened at all, just passed through a scanner
ITA shares an entire row with Lufthansa group
The agent printed our BPs and checked our bags
The process was pretty quick
A departure card was handed too
The following step was the passport control
Some people were queuing, however only 4-5 booths were opened
The passport control was messy like the arrival one, it took almost 15 minutes to clear
The airside looked quite anonymous compared to the check-in hall
The few shops didn't seem special
We bought a couple of gifts and some local desserts to bring home
The glass walkway leading to gate area G offers some decent views
Egyptair 777 getting ready to go to Paris-CDG
I really love their livery, the good balance in term of simplicity and symbolism
Lufthansa A330 bound to Frankfurt-FRA
The pier consists of a corridor with hold-rooms on both sides, each of them with an additional security check-point
In my opinion is quite a costly and inefficient layout
We got at the gate right at the scheduled boarding time (16:25), but it was still closed
20 minutes after the operations commenced
The inspection was divided between male and female
The latter was quite slower since it was made behind a privacy divider
The control itself looked ridicolous
Liquids weren't thrown away even being over 100 mL, pockets weren't checked
It was feeling much more like entering a museum rather than an airport
The waiting room was pretty standard, only restrooms were available
Our plane was yet to land
An Egyptair 737 was sitting next
At 17:15 (twenty minutes later than scheduled) the plane landed from Rome-FCO
It docked at the gate moments before 17:30
ITA Airways A320neo EI-HOD
First flight on 2nd August 2023 (2.5 years old at the moment of the flight)
Delivered to AZ the same month
Equipped with 180 seats in C-Y mixed configuration, it's dedicated to Italian football player Franco Baresi
At 18:00, five minutes on delay on departure time, passengers were accepted onboard
My home for the next 3 hours
Boarding seemed slower than the one in FCO
The plane looked full
At 18:40, 45 minutes on delay, the jetway was disconnected
Around this moment, I started feeling a bit scared for my connection, scheduled to be 1 hour and 25 minutes
The hostess assured me the connection would be guaranteed since my FCO-LIN flight would be the last of the day
Moments after we left the gate
The crew explained the delay was due to issues with fuel loading
Lowered lights for departure
Egyptair A320neo
Saudia A330 and Qatar Airways 777 in oneworld livery
Emirates A380
Lining-up on runway 23C one hour and three minutes on delay
Bye bye Egypt
Incredible to see how this part of the country is urbanized and than surrounded by nothing
20 minutes after take-off the mood lighting switched for the dinner service
The tray was similar to the one on FCO-CAI route: Three sandwiches, chickpeas-and-dried tomatoes salad, a yogurt and an apple and cocoa crumble
Even this time the sandwiches were pretty good
From left to right:
Cheese and tomatoes, chicken salad and dried tomatoes, beef and turkey
The chickpeas salad was very good
The yogurt came from a renowned brand, the crumble was again too sweat
After the trays were retired I spent more than one hour watching TV-series on my phone
Two hours into the flight we approached Italian airspace, flying over Apulia region
Flying over some large cities of Southern Italy
Approaching the southern part of Lazio Region
Latina, 50 km south of Rome
Enter text here…
Cabin was prepared for landing
Apparently we'd land from north, meaning we'd fly over Rome to alight to FCO runway 16L
Rome city center, with FCO in the background
Runway 7-25 pointing the Tyrrean Sea
Northern Rome suburbs
Lined up for landing
At 20:58, twenty-three minutes beyond schedule, we touched down at Rome "Leonardo da Vinci" Airport
Arriving at pier E11-24 in a few minutes
ITA Airways A330neo
Docking at the gate 45 minutes before the departure of my flight to Linate
This meant running
The arrival mezzanine of pier E11-24
To get to gate A, where my flight to LIN would be operated, I was meant to pass through security checkpoint and passport control
Stay tuned for the last leg of this trip
FLIGHT-RADAR
Departure from CAI
Arrival into FCO
