Departure
96%
vs 95%
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Sharm El Sheikh International Airport (ICAO HESH, IATA SSH) is a major international gateway in Egypt's South Sinai Governorate, serving the Red Sea resort town from which it takes its name. It is the third-busiest airport in Egypt after Cairo and Hurghada, and for a sim pilot it offers a striking desert-and-sea approach with two long parallel hard-surfaced runways and a full ILS.
Sharm El Sheikh International Airport is a large, busy international airport serving the Red Sea resort town of Sharm El Sheikh on Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. It ranks as the third-busiest airport in the country behind Cairo and Hurghada, handling substantial scheduled and charter traffic from Europe, Russia and the Middle East. Its combination of long parallel runways, an ILS approach and a dramatic coastal desert setting makes it an interesting destination for the simulator pilot flying into the Red Sea tourism region.
The airport lies in South Sinai Governorate, on the Sinai Peninsula, roughly 18 kilometres northeast of Sharm El Sheikh city and close to the Red Sea coast. The surrounding area is the heart of Egypt's Red Sea resort region, with Ras Mohammed National Park, Naama Bay and numerous coastal hotels nearby.
The airfield has two parallel physical runways aligned 04/22. Runway 04L/22R is 10,071 feet long with a hard surface and lighting, and is served by an ILS on the 04L approach. Runway 04R/22L is 10,066 feet long, also hard-surfaced and lit, but without an instrument landing system. Field elevation is 118 feet.
The airport provides a full range of ATC services. Published frequencies are Approach (APP) on 121.1 MHz, Ground (GND) on 121.9 MHz, Radio (RDO) on 317.5 MHz and Tower (TWR) on 118.9 MHz. An ILS is available for the approach to runway 04L.
The airport sits inland to the northeast of Sharm El Sheikh city, with the Red Sea coastline, Naama Bay and Ras Mohammed National Park all forming recognisable landmarks in the vicinity for pilots orienting themselves toward the field.
The airfield was built in 1968 and for its early years served only military flights. With the rapid growth of Egypt's tourism industry through the 1980s it was opened to civilian traffic, and it began handling international flights in 1999. A major expansion followed in 2007, when the new Terminal 1 was inaugurated on 23 May 2007, a two-level, 43,000-square-metre building with 40 check-in counters and capacity for five million passengers a year, built to accommodate growing international and charter traffic. On 31 October 2015, Metrojet Flight 9268, en route from Sharm El Sheikh to St Petersburg, crashed shortly after departure, an event that led several countries to suspend flights to the airport and caused a significant drop in passenger numbers. Russian services were halted for nearly five years as a result, resuming on 9 August 2021 when Rossiya Airlines operated the first flight between Russia and Sharm El Sheikh since the ban.
Sharm El Sheikh International Airport remains one of Egypt's busiest airports, handling millions of passengers a year across two main passenger terminals, with the larger terminal handling most international flights and the other used primarily for domestic services. It is served by a wide range of international carriers, including EgyptAir, Turkish Airlines, Lufthansa, British Airways, Emirates, Qatar Airways and flydubai, reflecting its role as the principal air link for the Red Sea resort region.
