Alexandria International Airport

Borg El Arab International Airport is the principal airport serving Alexandria, Egypt's second-largest city and historic Mediterranean seaport. Located 25 mi (40 km) southwest of central Alexandria at 171 ft (52 m) elevation near Borg El Arab, the airport replaced the long-standing Alexandria International Airport (HBE code inherited from the former inner-city field, with ICAO HEBA) in the city proper, which was closed and decommissioned in 2011 to consolidate commercial operations at the modern Borg El Arab facility. This makes HBE the sole scheduled commercial gateway for Alexandria and the surrounding Beheira and Matrouh governorates, a catchment of roughly five million people. The airport handles 13 routes across 10 destinations through 11 airlines. EgyptAir and its low-cost subsidiary Air Cairo provide the largest share of capacity, with the strongest traffic flows on the Gulf corridor — Dubai, Jeddah, Riyadh, Kuwait, and Doha — reflecting the substantial Egyptian migrant-worker population in the GCC. European services include Turkish Airlines via Istanbul and seasonal charter and scheduled links to Mediterranean markets. The airport performs a primarily regional and Gulf-connecting role rather than serving long-haul traffic, which remains concentrated at Cairo International (CAI). The airport was significantly expanded with a new terminal opened in 2010 to replace the older in-city facility, and its runway specifications support standard narrow-body and occasional widebody operations. Despite being the second major international airport serving Egypt's second city, HBE's traffic remains modest by regional standards because Alexandria's business travelers frequently use the overnight train to Cairo and CAI's much larger international network. Historically the HBE code and 'Alexandria International Airport' branding were associated with the Nozha field in the city; the code migrated to the Borg El Arab facility upon its assumption of scheduled service.