Tourists besiege Cairo airport, but flights halt

ap ^ | January 29, 2011 | Tarek El-Tablawy

[george76]

Thousands of passengers were stranded at Cairo's airport on Saturday as flights were canceled or delayed, leaving them unable to leave because of a government-imposed curfew. Several Arab nations, meanwhile, moved to evacuate their citizens.

As Egypt's unrest neared its sixth day, the cancelations of flights and the arrival of several largely empty aircraft appeared to herald an ominous erosion of key tourism revenue for the country, hitting hard at its pocketbook even as protesters centered many of their grievances on the grinding poverty they endure daily.

Europeans and Russians account for a major chunk of the tourists to Egypt, opting for Red Sea resort trips while many Americans go for more expansive trips that include the Pharaonic sites in Upper Egypt

[dragnet2]

Maybe I missed it but what are we doing to get our people out?

We?

Feel free to rent a plane with your own money...

Outside the military, people that want to go to Muslim countries in the Mideast are stooopid...

[hennie pennie]

>>>> "Remember the Fall of Saigon?" <<<<<

Yep.

[hennie pennie]

*ping*

[Doe Eyes]

We don't have ships in the Med?

I believe that is where the 6th Fleet is.

[no-to-illegals]

Thank You for the *ping* and an apology for being slow to respond. This is not good for our people there. Wish there were some answers. Praying for a relatively quiet night. Truth is .... This may not end well. Refusing to believe what I just typed though.

Everyone should be told, our civilians and nonesentials, the time to leave the Middle East is immediately. To wait is to invite what is now taking place in Egypt. This is my opinion. Face to face with our civilians and nonesentials would be the two points to press forward with them, as stated.... Asking for God's Speed.

[hennie pennie]

I haven’t been on a plane since you-know-when, and I frankly wouldn’t feel SAFE in most foreign countries nowadays... but that’s just me...

[hal ogen]

We flew in and out of Cairo a couple years ago. The airport was like a 1950’s US airport...but nothing had been maintained or cleaned since then. It wouldn’t be a pleasant place to be for a lengthy period. That coupled with the fear of having islamist wierdos chop you and your family to bloody pieces might prove unnerving.

[NY Attitude]

Or merely cut off power and water. You never can tell what will happen to utilities when the rioting gets serious

It is a fact. They did it at the end of 1978 in Iran.

[left that other site]

They are destroying the Antiquities?

That is an offense against World Culture and Civilization!

Where is the UN?

[Palladin]

The whole country is like a cesspool. Ancient sanitation habits.

All Americans should get out now!