I am planning to fly from Germany to the Red Sea in spring 2012 (El Gouna HEGO near Hurghada). I have quite a bit of experience doing business and living in Egypt but not in GA. The trip was planned much earlier (in a C172) but then the revolution had my destination airport closed. Now everything is almost back to normal (sadly also the ubiquitous corruption) but I have since then switched my ride...
I have about 7h of autonomy (excluding IFR reserves) and 333l of fuel capacity. Airspeed is around 150KTAS.
Obviously the biggest challenge will be the administration and infrastructure in Egypt and Greece. My current plan is to have a barrel of AVGAS sent to my destination in Egypt and fly from Greece to the Egyptian port of entry (most likely Alexandria from what I could find) and then onwards to El Gouna, back to Alexandria and then to Greece. In addition to the barrel in El Gouna, I can also carry a few jerry cans as W&B will not be an issue in this aircraft.
I've never flown to Greece myself but I've read Peter's trip reports. I am looking for a good airport that has AVGAS, reliable opening hours, a bit of infrastructure for an overnight and is located in the south so that the return trip to Egypt is not too far. If I do a first stop Austria (e.g. Klagenfurt), then I would stay within Schengen but I need customs when leaving to/arriving from Egypt. Here's a chart of the area with a few airports depicted.
Thanks!
That sounds like a super trip!
With an aircraft of your range, you can guess which way I would route 
First hop to Croatia (Losinj, Brac, or Split or Dubrovnik if you want bigger places).
Next hop to Rhodes or to Sitia (Crete). Not going into Turkish airspace, due to the Greek ATC being nervous over handovers, and certainly not landing in Turkey.
After that I have never been, but many have.
You can clear Customs at Alexandria, or Cairo, or even Luxor which is easily doable from Rhodes or Crete in one hop (albeit with poor diversion options, and probably none with avgas).
There is avgas at Luxor (supposedly), and also at a recently set up facility at an airport near Cairo called "6th October". I have had some emails with the operator there:
Edward Gould [email protected] Co-Founder General Aviation Support Egypt - G.A.S.E. www.gasupportegypt.com
What he has achieved seems amazing. But 6th Oct has no Customs.
That said, Justine and I have just cancelled a trip to Luxor in Jan 2013 (to see a friend living there) due to the worsening terrorist situation there...
Definitely avoid Turkish overflight as Peter has said. Why not land in Cyprus, Avgas at Pafos (LCPH). You could route say, Zadar (LDZD) - Pafos with your range. Alexandria AFAIK does not have Avgas. It's not a fast airport to clear in at - beware. ZAS Aviation and Tiger Aviation handle you there. Take cash for Egyptian visas on entry - no cards!
You'd route LCPH - M32 - APLON - A28 - RASDA (Cairo FIR entry point) - W725 - OTIKO - AXD - HEAX. 271nm, HEBA as an alternate, also airport of entry.
Makes for a short flight down south. This would be via AXD - A727 - CVO - L315 - HEGO.
575nm from Pafos to destination via Alexandria. Suggest filing FPL for Egyptian domestic flight from Pafos.
Rhodes is OK, Euro Aviation (Universal Aviation) handle us there.
If you come to Pafos, I'll be able to help you out. I'm based there.
Thanks for your feedback. I'm slowly gathering information.
My current preferred routing is Dubrovnik LDDU - Sitia LGST - Alexandria HEAX - El Gouna HEGO. No leg longer than 4 hours. If I can have a barrel of 100LL delivered to my destination, this would be the best option. I have learned that everything is possible in Egypt, just a matter of finding the right contacts and coughing up some money. If this doesn't work out, I could fly back via Luxor and refuel there. In the worst case, I could still mix in some auto fuel and the AVGAS filled jerry cans that I will certainly carry.
Sitia looks like a good recommendation. No handling and AVGAS on the field. The opening hours are a bit limiting but workable. Crete has several options for diverting.
I have not thought of Cyprus yet, it looks like a significant detour but would give me the shortest leg over the sea. Zadar-Pafos would be one hell of a leg, 1032NM and (as suggested by RocketRoute) within Turkish airspace.
What's the difference between HEAX and HEBA, both are next to each other and as you say port of entry? If I don't need AVGAS, which would be the better choice? When you say HEAX can take time, what is your experience?
Thanks!
Hi
HEBA is more expensive, further out of town. HEAX is very close to the city. HEAX has the AXD VOR, which they will make you route via from both airports. Less track miles, basically. You will receive vectors for both airports.
Also, the handling agents (whoever you choose - I'd go with Tiger Aviation/TAS) drive to HEBA. They are stationed at HEAX. There is not much around HEBA if you go tech.
BTW, you may wish to check Avgas availability at Marsa Alam (HEMA). I have seen Avgas burners down there. Great destination, less commercial than Hurghada.
Lastly, don't expect any ATC shortcuts anywhere in Egypt!
There's a cold beer in Pafos waiting for you if you if you venture via here!
FWIW I have seen a light single re-fuelling at HEAX with jerry cans of Mogas I think. I would ask a handler whether they can get you Avgas there instead of Hurghada. Gives you more scope.
When I say it can take time - same applies to both airports. Around a 30-50 minute wait to get the Visa issued on arrival. Same on exit. This is standard. I'm in there a lot.
I flew to Egypt in 2011, with the help of GASE (details in Peter's post). My write-up is at
I would avoid Cyprus unless you can work out a special deal; they charged me about 300 Euros for handling (for a one hour fuel stop in a Maule), and the fuel was the most expensive of the trip, pretty much on par with AVGAS at Luxor. The fuelers turned up and tried to fuel us with Jet-A, too. I was very unimpressed with the service and prices. With your range you should easily be able to avoid it and use Sitia, which was wonderful.
Katamarino
Handling is not compulsory for GA in Cyprus. We are building a hangar in Pafos which will be GA friendly, and Brit run.
We can help with Egypt. Luxor no longer has AVGAS as standard...
Fly safe, Sam.
