Air Memphis

Sharm to Cairo day trip. After asking the tour operator who we would be flying with and being told Egypt Air we were not impressed when we found ourselves entering the tail of Air Memphis. I have to say I am not a nervous flier in the slightest but myself and my partner were genuinely fearing for our lives. The journey started off ok apart from the poor safety demo but landing was a different matter. Whilst looking out of the window at the scenery coming in to land I noticed planes and helicopters a good 100m to our right - and then a runway. This set alarm bells ringing but I just thought it must be a huge airport - however we were almost at the ground when we took off again! People were in tears and panicking all down the aircraft. We were in the air for another 40 minutes with the aircraft seeming to stall midair drop a bit then speed up on numerous occasions. Needless to say I did not want to get on the flight home that evening. We made it safely back to Sharm that night but I would highly recommend that nobody fly with Air Memphis - ever!

I flew Air Memphis as part of a day tour to Abu Simbel from Aswan. Like many on this site I had assumed that I would be flying Egypt Air but was very surprised when I arrived at the airport with the tour group and saw the ancient DC9 on the tarmac. I'm a nervous flyer anyway and so really had to weight up how much I wanted to see the sites. I decided seeing as my tour manager does this every week and that he's still here that there must be an element of safety! The safety announcement lasted approx 30 secs and did not involve lifejacket demonstrations (you also fly over Lake Nasser not just desert). They omitted the safety demonstration on the flight back. People were using their mobiles throughout the flight and the cockpit door was propped open frequently. Security was a joke. Our boarding passes had random names on (no form of ID was ever seen nor asked for) and we were allowed any type of fluid with us they just didn't bother to check. Everyone beeped as they went through the walk through scanners and no one was patted down. The plane was in a poor state with many seats broken what appeared to be parcel tape holding things together and the constant smell of fuel. I would never choose to fly Air Memphis again and would recommend that people make their own arrangements to fly Egypt Air instead.

Aswant to Abu Simbel. It's a good thing I have no fear of flying after a rough flight to Abu Simbel they landed and during taxi to the parking spot as they got there they locked the brakes tossing any loose things in the cabin towards the front of the plane. Judging by the laughter from the guides for different groups this is common. It was a DC9 that had seen better days and was suffering from lack of maintenance. On the return flight it felt as though they were rotating the entire crew attendants and all through the pilots seat as the flight would rock from one side to another quite often. After a short (thank goodness) flight back to Aswan they locked the right brake up on the taxi out to take off. You could smell the rubber from the tire. It was a rough flight. Apparently there is no safety organization for Egypt for airlines any other country (except maybe near Russia) would allow this to go on.

Very similar to previous comments! We did the Sharm to Cairo day trip. Sharm to Cairo was OK (almost normal but a very old/cramped plane). But the return to Sharm in the evening was the first time I've ever really thought we were going to crash-lan. The plane was in a very steep final descent and turning left then right then left - right up until we hit (and bounced off again) the runway - and the cockpit door was wide open much of the flight. I would not recommend Air Memphis to anyone. (Boarding passes with random names on crazy/disorganised boarding process etc all applied to our return flight too!)

Aswan-Abu Simbel return as part of a pre-booked excursion. Had I known it was this airline I might have thought twice. Flew on a DC9 - I am 45 and sure this aircraft was older than me. It should be in a museum. Most of our tour party were quite relieved to make it back to Aswan - and that is about the most I could say about this flight - we made it back. Surprisingly staff quite good for a 30 minute flight each way. Not for the faint hearted.

Sharm to Cairo plane looked tired scruffy seats dirty windows and cramped interior. However the flight to Cairo was pleasAnt with a good view of the pyramids and a good landing. After a wonderful day in Cairo we arrived back at the airport for our return flight and things now began to get interesting. After passing through security we were instructed to join a queue at check in where we were joined by a cat who ignored everybody and went to the front. As we waited an officIal walked down the queue and took our boarding passes to the check in desk on arriving at the desk ( we were last ) we were informed that only three seats remained but there were four passengers. After a few moments of anxious conversation it became clear we were in the queue for a flight to Luxor. Mistake reCtified we received our tickets for our flight to Sharm and discovered that our names were now Anton and Anna.The cat was by this time stretched out on the luggage conveyer belt. After waiting one and half hours we boarded our flight back to Sharm through the rear entrance of the plane with the engines running at what appeared to be more then idle speed. Cairo is a large airport at the taxi journey to the runway can be a protracted business (20mins) this was when a few doubts began to surface sudden large increases of thrust that some passengers thought we were about to take off. When the aircraft braked you could hear the brakes grinding take off was good and the fifty minute flight was fine until final approach to Sharm and changes in engine speeds that suggested there may have been a problem. However we landed safely and after taxing to stand I did think that the ground staff were a little tentative about approaching the aircraft throughout both journeys the crew were polite and professional same crew both ways.

My wife and I flew Sharm to Luxor on the DC9 -as the other comments say seats where broken the same crew that we had in the early morning still controlled the plane on the return flight late that night. I'm sure we all recall the somewhat vertically challenged stewardess handing out the date biscuits and fruit drinks. As we entered though the tail my wife pointed to the "gaffer tape" holding things together I noticed a large puddle of fluid under the body I convinced myself it was just water! However we got there and back on landing there was a deserved round of applause.

We booked the Aswan-Abu Simbel excursion thinking we'd fly on an Egyptair aircraft but what we found at Aswan airport was an old DC9 of this previously unknown company called Air Memphis. The flight was ok but I wouldn't recommend the same experience to anybody. The airplane was old and smelly seats were broken no safety demonstration and fantasy names on our boarding cards. I'm an experienced flier but this was one of the worst experiences in my life don't do the same mistake and if you want to visit Abu Simbel (which is beautiful by the way) book an Egyptair flight or just forget about it.

I agree with all other comments I've read! Flew Sharm to Luxor return last week and have never been so scared on take off or landing both ways. The MD83 was dirty dark and smelly and passenger comfort even on a short flight was non existent. On the return to Sharm we boarded the aircraft through the rear of the plane between the two engines which were/appeared to be slightly running. We had the same cabin crew as the morning flight 14 hours previously and they were virtually fainting from the heat. After sitting on the plane for nearly 20 mins before take off all passengers were incredibly hot to the point of wanting to disembark. The cabin crew did they're best with limited resources. We also received juice and fig roll biscuits both ways but one lucky local passenger was given a hot meal. A holiday rep in the seat in front of us was using his mobile phone during the flight and no one stopped him. The sound of what appeared to be wind rushing through the cabin during the flight did nothing to inspire confidence. I have never been so glad to get off of an aircraft. My advice would be to check with your tour operator before booking an excursion because I would never travel with this airline again.

Returned yesterday from a fantastic holiday along the Nile and Cairo. However this also included the experience of a lifetime - flying with Memphis Air twice. I am a seasoned air traveller but I have to say that flying with this airline did leave me genuinely frightened at several times during the flights to and from Aswan to Abu Simbel. The worst part was the return to Aswan where the pilot was continuously revving and throttling back the engines seemingly at random. Presumably he did have a reason but it felt as if he was battling with some problem. I decided to keep a check on the faces of the cabin crew and if they looked worried then that would be the time to panic! It genuinely was a scary flight on both occasions. Commenting afterwards a friend of mine described the trip as "exciting" which is one thing you do not want to hear during any flight!