Luxor airport

On a recent visit to Luxor, we transferred from cairo to Luxor airport. This is the main airport serving visitors to The valley of the kings, and was upgraded in 2005 to accommodate the growing number of passengers, and can now take on up to 8 million passengers a year.

WHERE IS IT?

It is situated 4 miles east of Luxor city itself (Al Uqsur) and close to both Al Bayadiyah and El-dabiya. an entry and is currently Egypt's fourth-biggest airport.

FACILITIES...
There are 48 check-in desks, 8 gates, 5 baggage claim belts, a post office, a bank, a Bureau de Change, an auto exchange machine restaurants, cafeterias, a VIP Lounge, a duty free shop, a newsagent/tobacconist, a chemist shop, a gift shop, a travel agent, a tourist help desk, car rental, first aid, a baby/parent Room, disabled access/facilities and a business centre.

OUR EXPERIENCE OF THE AIRPORT...

On arrival at the airport, we were speedily taken to the baggage area which was a fairly painless process given that we had to collect a Visa on entry; in fact, it was all very organised! The baggage reclaim area was large and spacious and had plenty of trollies on which passengers could put their cases. So far, so good, until our cases didn’t arrive! We then experienced an outdated computer and staff who seemed unable to add the details into the computer so that the luggage could be tracked and hopefully found. However, throughout the experience, the staff were as helpful as they could possibly be given the language barrier and the fact that I was clearly not happy.

Once all of the details were taken we went for a taxi, and found when we got outside that there were several taxis waiting, and we got one with no trouble at all.

The next day we visited the airport again and whilst we were not able to get into the actual airport because we were not travelling, one of the representatives came to see us and while he went to check on the cases we sat in the waiting area which i have to say was very clean and well maintained as were the areas around the airport- lots of grass and seats and no litter anywhere.

The luggage eventually turned up and it was on to our return journey which was an altogether more pleasant experience given that we had had a fantastic holiday.

Check in was at night and we quickly checked in the bags. Although the shops in the airport seemed to be shut, when we got through to duty free, most shops and cafes were open. It was all air conditioned but not so much that it was actually painful, and we were able to sit in one of the cafes drinking our own water so that it was gone before we got on the plane. The staff again were courteous and helpful and didn’t seem to mind that we were not buying drinks. The whole area was spacious with lots of seats for passengers if there were any, which were empty when we were there.

In the middle of the night there was also a shop open selling the usual touristy stuff but when we went to buy things, they were not over priced although they did have a captive audience. Items could be bought using euros Dollars GBP and Egyptian Pounds, and even a mixture of two depending on what loose change is left over after the holiday.

No delays meant that we quickly boarded on route to Cairo after a painless and quite pleasant two hours in the airport.

VERDICT...

Having spent more time than usual in this airport, I have a fairly good knowledge of where everything is and how to get there. It is close to the city centre so even if bags are lost then taxis don’t cost too much.

The airport itself is clean and well maintained and the staff are helpful and friendly, and even the toilets are clean!!

A good airport which serves its passengers well (quick note: Alitalia lost the cases and the same can’t be said about their staff!)

Thanks for reading.

Daniela x