EgyptAir is seeking to launch flights to Los Angeles before the end of the year, marking a return to the U.S. city after an absence of more than two decades.

The airline has applied to the U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) seeking exemption authority for operations between Cairo International Airport (CAI) and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). If approved, the carrier hopes to start flights in late October at the start of the winter 2023-24 season.

EgyptAir previously served Los Angeles in the 1990s, operating via a stopover at New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) aboard Boeing 767-300ER equipment.

However, flights were suspended following the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990 in October 1999, which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean about 60 mi. south of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts. Data provided by the DOT shows the Cairo-Los Angeles market has remained unserved ever since, apart from a brief period in January 2001.

Should EgyptAir be granted permission to launch nonstop flights between the cities, Los Angeles will become the airline’s fourth destination in the U.S. At present, the carrier flies to JFK daily using 777-300s, Newark Liberty International Airport 3X-weekly with 787-9s and Washington Dulles International Airport 4X-weekly with 787-9s. OAG Schedules Analyser data shows EgyptAir is the sole provider of nonstop flights between Egypt and the U.S.

“EgyptAir’s 37-year history of operating successful service to the U.S. demonstrates that it is fully qualified to operate the Los Angeles service, which it has served in the past and for which it now requests authority,” the airline’s application to the DOT says. “Its proposed Los Angeles service would expand its existing service to New York and Washington, D.C., and would provide significant new transportation options for passengers.”

O&D traffic between Egypt and the U.S. totaled 747,300 two-way passengers in 2022, Sabre Market Intelligence figures show, compared with 664,000 in 2019 before the pandemic. Cairo-Los Angeles was the third-largest city pair last year, accounting for 65,300 two-way O&D passengers, behind Cairo-New York and Cairo-Washington.