Borg El Arab (HBE) Airport Guide 2026 — Alexandria’s Airport, Transfers & Entry Tips

Borg El Arab (HBE) — Alexandria’s Airport, the 2026 Guide

The first thing to understand about Alexandria’s airport is that it is not really in Alexandria. It sits roughly 45 km out in the desert town of Borg El Arab, so the transfer is a proper hour-long journey, not a hop. It’s a small, modern regional field with barely any nonstop European or American service — for most of us that means arriving on a connection from Cairo, Istanbul or the Gulf. Get the transfer and the entry paperwork sorted before you land and it’s painless.

Last verified: July 2026. Egyptian visa fees, the arrival-card system and taxi rates change often, and the Egyptian pound moves fast — confirm the specifics on the official portals and agree any fare before you travel.

Quick reference

The one thing to plan for: HBE is a long way from Alexandria

Alexandria used to have an airport in the city — El Nozha (ALY), a short taxi ride from the Corniche. It closed to traffic back in 2012 and its flights were moved out to Borg El Arab, and plans to reopen the in-city field never came to anything. So today there is exactly one airport serving Alexandria, and it is about 45 km southwest of the centre, out past the western suburbs in the desert town of Borg El Arab.

That distance is the single fact that shapes your day. This is not a 20-minute airport run — plan on roughly an hour door to door, longer if you land into Alexandria’s evening traffic. Don’t book a flight that has you leaving the city centre 90 minutes before departure and expect to make it; give yourself two and a half to three hours before an international flight, counting the drive.

The second fact worth knowing before you book: HBE is a small regional airport — under two million passengers a year — and it has very little nonstop service to Europe or North America. The bulk of what flies here is EgyptAir shuttling to Cairo, Air Arabia Egypt and the Gulf carriers (Qatar Airways, flydubai and friends), and Turkish Airlines to Istanbul. If you’re coming from London, New York or most of Europe, you’re almost certainly connecting through Cairo, Istanbul, Athens or a Gulf hub rather than flying in direct. Price your trip as a connection and you won’t be surprised.

The terminal: small, new and easy

Here is the good news after the distance warning — the airport itself is a pleasure to use precisely because it’s small. On 1 January 2025 operations moved into a brand-new Terminal 2, a roughly 40,000 m² building billed as the first “green” airport terminal in Africa, running on solar power and energy-efficient systems. The older Terminal 1, which opened in 2010, still stands beside it, but you’ll almost certainly find yourself in the new building.

Everything is under one roof and the flows are simple: check-in and bag drop on the ground floor, departures and passport control upstairs, arrivals in between. There is no inter-terminal shuttle to catch, no satellite concourse, no people-mover to misjudge — you walk it. After a hub like Cairo or Istanbul, HBE feels almost sleepy, and that’s a feature. Facilities are modest but adequate: a few cafés, duty-free, prayer rooms, ATMs and car-hire desks. Don’t expect a sprawling shopping mall; do expect to clear the place quickly.

Getting into Alexandria

There’s no train or metro to the airport — the distance means every option is a road journey of about an hour. Here’s the honest comparison. Treat the Egyptian-pound figures as approximate: the currency has moved a lot, so the euro/dollar equivalents are ballpark and rates you’re quoted on the day may differ.

The bus — cheap, if you don’t mind a second leg

A 24-hour bus service (branded Egypt Bus) runs roughly hourly between the airport and Muharram Bek bus station, about 5 km south of central Alexandria, for around EGP 50 — the cheapest way in by a wide margin. It’s air-conditioned with room for luggage, and takes about an hour. The catch is that Muharram Bek isn’t the city centre, so you’ll usually finish the trip with a short taxi or ride-hail to your hotel. Intercity coach companies (West Delta, Super Jet, Go Bus and others) also serve Alexandria, but their long-distance schedules aren’t a reliable airport connector — the dedicated airport bus is the one to look for.

Taxis and ride-hailing — agree the fare or use the app

Alexandria taxis are not metered and there’s no fixed official airport tariff, so you must agree the price before you get in — a fair rate to the centre is somewhere around EGP 200–300, but drivers at the airport will open high. Have small notes and don’t be shy about negotiating. The cleaner option for most visitors is Uber or Careem, both of which operate in Alexandria and serve the airport: the app gives you a set price and a mapped route, which removes the argument entirely. Ride-hail pickup points at airports can move around, so follow the ground-transport signs and check the in-app pickup pin.

Entry: visa and the online arrival card

Egypt asks two separate things of most Western visitors — a visa and a free online arrival card. They are not the same document, and sorting both before you fly saves time at a small airport where the desks can back up when a widebody lands.

The visa

• You almost certainly need one. Citizens of the US, UK, EU, Canada, Australia and most other Western countries require a tourist visa for Egypt. Your passport must be valid for at least six months beyond arrival — this is enforced.
• e-Visa (the tidy option): about $25 for a single-entry tourist visa via the official government portal, visa2egypt.gov.eg. Apply a week or so ahead, print the approval, and you skip the payment queue on arrival. Use only the official site — lookalike “visa service” sites charge a premium.
• Visa on arrival: $30 (the fee rose from $25 on 1 March 2026). The trick that trips people up: you buy the visa sticker at a bank kiosk in the arrivals hall first, then join the immigration queue — don’t line up at passport control without it. US dollars cash is simplest; some kiosks take cards.
• A note on the newer digital visa-on-arrival being rolled out via QR code: that’s launching at Cairo first, so don’t assume it’s live at Borg El Arab yet — the sticker-at-the-bank routine is the safe expectation here.

The arrival card

Egypt has moved to a digital arrival card and phased out the old paper landing cards at its airports during 2026. It’s completed online before you fly, it’s free, and it produces a confirmation (a QR code or reference) you show at immigration. Fill it in on the official government portal, not a paid intermediary — and if the online system is down or you’re unsure, the desks have historically still processed arrivals, so it’s not a reason to miss a flight. There is no EES or ETIAS here — those are European systems and have nothing to do with entering Egypt.

Lounges and waiting it out

Facilities are limited, as you’d expect at a field this size, but there is a paid/membership lounge in international departures — the Pearl Lounge — which accepts Priority Pass, DragonPass and LoungeKey as well as walk-in guests, with the usual Wi-Fi, snacks and drinks. It’s a quiet spot to wait out a connection. One caveat worth flagging: lounge and gate assignments shifted when operations moved into the new Terminal 2, so confirm the current location on the signage rather than an old saved listing.

If you’re not using the lounge, the landside and airside cafés cover coffee and a quick bite, and there’s duty-free after security. It’s not a place to plan a long, luxurious layover — but connections here are usually short and the building is small enough that you won’t get lost.

Practicalities: money, SIM and Wi-Fi

Money: use bank ATMs in the arrivals hall over the exchange booths for a better rate, and if a machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline and choose Egyptian pounds. Carry cash — a lot of everyday spending here (taxis, the bus, small shops, tips) is cash-only, and the pound’s volatility means quoted prices can drift, so don’t over-exchange.

SIM and data: the Egyptian networks (Vodafone, Orange, Etisalat/e&, WE) sell tourist SIMs, and buying one on arrival is cheap and quick — you’ll need your passport to register it. An eSIM bought before you land is the least-hassle route if your phone supports it.

Wi-Fi and the basics: the terminal has Wi-Fi, ATMs, car-hire desks, prayer rooms and a handful of cafés and shops. Keep your passport and boarding pass handy — as at all Egyptian airports, there are security screening points on the way in as well as at the gate.

Connections and timing

Because HBE has so little nonstop long-haul service, most international itineraries here are connections through a hub — Cairo on EgyptAir, Istanbul on Turkish, Athens, or Doha and Dubai on the Gulf carriers. The airport is small and single-terminal in practice, so a connection within HBE is quick; the timing risk is at your hub, not here.

Two practical points. First, if you’re self-connecting on separate tickets — say a cheap European flight into Cairo, then a domestic hop to Alexandria — remember you’ll clear immigration and re-check bags at the connecting airport, so give yourself a generous buffer and factor the visa in at your first point of entry. Second, for the outbound, treat HBE as a two-and-a-half to three-hour airport: it’s small, but the hour-long drive from the city plus security and passport control eats the margin, and there’s no fast way to recover a late start.

Frequently asked questions

At a glance

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