Airport in chaos as foreigners flee Egypt

Cairo’s international airport was a scene of chaos and confusion today as thousands of foreigners sought to flee the unrest in Egypt and countries around the world scrambled to send in planes to fly their citizens out.

Nerves frayed, shouting matches erupted and some passengers even had a fist-fight as thousands crammed inside Cairo airport’s new Terminal 3 seeking a flight home.

In an attempt to reduce tensions, the airport’s departures board stopped announcing flight times – but the move simply fuelled anger over cancelled or delayed flights.

Making matters worse, check-in counters were poorly staffed because many EgyptAir employees had been unable to get to work due to an overnight curfew and traffic chaos across the Egyptian capital.

“It’s an absolute zoo, what a mess,” said Justine Khanzadian, 23, a graduate student from the American University of Cairo who was among those waiting at the airport for several hours to leave Egypt. “I decided to leave because of the protests, the government here is just not stable enough to stay.”

By midday local time, an announcement filtered through the crowd instructing groups of Danish, German, Chinese and Canadian passengers that their governments had sent planes to evacuate them, prompting a nervous stampede towards the gates.

A chartered flight evacuating about 150 American citizens was expected on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus sometime this afternoon. Larnaca Airport spokesman Adamos Aspris said the flight was delayed due to heavy traffic at Cairo’s airport.

US Assistant Secretary of State Janice Jacobs has said it will take several flights over the coming days to fly out the thousands of Americans who want to leave Egypt, through Europe.

EgyptAir resumed its flights this morning after a 14-hour break because of the curfew and its inability to field enough crew.

Over 20 hours, only 26 of about 126 EgyptAir flights operated, airport officials said.

The officials said many countries were working to evacuate their citizens, with Turkey sending four flights, Israel and Russia sending two planes each and the Czech Republic one. They said those additional flights had helped ease the airport’s swelling and restless crowds, but those gains were likely to be short-lived as other foreigners and Egyptians poured in.

Hundreds of Indian nationals were evacuated, with 316 arriving today in Mumbai on board a special Air India flight and another 275 were expected to reach Mumbai later in the day.

China sent two planes today and was sending two more charter flights tomorrow to help pick up an estimated 500 Chinese citizens stranded in Cairo.

The foreign ministries in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark yesterday advised against all non-essential travel to Egypt and tour companies cancelled trips to the country until February 23.

Tour operators say they will fly home all their customers this week when their holidays end, or on extra flights, stressing there has not been any unrest in Red Sea resort cities like Hurghada or Sharm el-Sheik.

SAS Denmark said it would fly home some 60 Danes stuck at Cairo airport, who were supposed to return to Denmark with EgyptAir yesterday but were left stranded.

Indonesia was sending a plane to Cairo to start evacuating some 6,150 Indonesian citizens – mostly students and workers. Those who decided to stay behind should “remain alert, avoid crowded places and communicate with our embassy,” said foreign minister Marty Natalegawa.

Air France cancelled its daily flight from Paris to Cairo today, and from tomorrow its daily flight to Cairo will make a “technical stop” in Beirut. It is also increasing capacity on return flights – which will be direct – by an extra 200 seats to help bring passengers back to France.

Portugal sent a C-130 military transport plane to evacuate its citizens, and Greece put military planes on standby.

Even Iraq has now decided to evacuate its citizens, sending three planes to Egypt – including the prime minister’s jet – to bring home all those who wish to return.

Thousands of Iraqis had once fled to Egypt to escape the violence in their own country.

About 800 Iraqis had left Cairo by this afternoon, said Capt Mohammed al-Moussawi, a crew member for the prime minister’s office. He said the flights would continue until all those who wished to return had done so.

After flying home to Athens in Greece, Markos Loukogiannakis said confusion reigned at Cairo airport and travellers had to negotiate a string of checkpoints to even get there.

“In a 14-mile route from our suburb to the airport we had to get through 19 checkpoints, including nine manned by civilians,” he said.

“There were lots of people gathering at the airport and it was very difficult to get in.”

He said security had deteriorated sharply over the past three days in Cairo after police withdrew from the streets.

“There was a wave of attacks by criminal elements who engaged in burglaries and wrecked shops and banks. There was a lot of shooting and residents took up the burden of protecting their property,” he said.