Cairo International Airport (IATA: CAI, ICAO: HECA) is the main international airport of Cairo and the largest and busiest airport in Egypt. It is the primary hub for Egyptair Nile Air and several other airlines. The airport is located in Heliopolis, northeast of Cairo, approximately 15 kilometres (8 nautical miles) from the city's business area, covering an area of around 37 square kilometres (14 square miles). Cairo International Airport is the busiest airport in Africa and one of the busiest in the Middle East regarding total passengers.
History
During World War II, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) constructed the John Payne Field Air Force Base to support the Allied Forces instead of taking over the existing Almaza Airport, which was located 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) away. Payne Field served as a significant Air Transport Command air cargo and passenger hub, connecting westwards through Benghazi Airport (known as Soluch Airfield during the war) to Algiers airport on the North African route to Dakar Airport in French West Africa.
Other locations where transport routes were flown included RAF Habbaniya, Iraq on the Cairo – Karachi, India route; Lydda Airport, British Palestine; Jeddah, Arabia, on the Central African route to Roberts Field, Liberia (1941–1943), and after the war ended, Athens, Greece and on to destinations in Europe.
After American forces left the base in 1945 at the end of the war, the Civil Aviation Authority took over the facility and began using it for international civil aviation. The airport was initially named "King Farouk 1st Airport". In 1963, Cairo International Airport replaced the old Heliopolis Airport, which had been located in the east of Cairo at the Hike-Step area.
The Egyptian Holding Company for Airports and Air Navigation manages the airport, which oversees the Cairo Airport Company, the Egyptian Airports Company, National Air Navigation Services and Aviation Information Technology, and the Cairo Airport Authority. In 2004, Fraport AG won the management contract to run the airport for eight years, with options to extend the contract twice in one-year increments