Egyptair Maintenance & Engineering is to open a line- and later build a base-maintenance facility at the privately owned Marsa Alam airport on the Red Sea.

The first phase is to provide line maintenance services for Airbus A320-family and Boeing 737 aircraft. Approval from EASA and the FAA is expected to be granted just before operations begin in early February.

The second phase will be to build a hangar for light checks on up to three A320/737 aircraft, which is scheduled to open in 2015.

The company plans to invest around $50 million in total and employ approximately 50 technical staff members in the new facility, says Egyptair M&E chairman Abd El Aziz Fadel.

The airport is located around 60km (37.3mi) north of the holiday resort Marsa Alam, and is owned by Kuwait's Al-Kharafi Group.

Source: Air Transport Intelligence news