Cairo airport arrivals
From the aircraft door to the back seat, in order, with the time each step actually takes.
Explore moreBy the time you board, nothing is left to arrange
You are not asked to find anyone. You are told, in writing and in advance, exactly who is waiting and where he stands.
The day before
We send you one message: the chauffeur’s name and number, the car photographed with its plate, and the pickup time.
Two hours before pickup
His number opens. You may call or write to him directly from that moment until the journey ends.
On the day
We watch the flight number you gave us. You do not need to tell us the aircraft is late.
If the chauffeur or the car changes for any reason, you are told before the appointment. You never learn it at the door.
Inside the terminal
Passports, bags, customs: five points, in this order. The figures are what our chauffeurs see week by week, not published averages.
1. Visa on arrival
If you are buying a visa on arrival, the bank counters that sell it sit before passport control, not after it. Have the fee ready in cash. Allow 10 to 20 minutes on top of the queue at the desk.
2. Passport control
15 to 40 minutes, depending on how many aircraft landed at once. The queues are longest in the small hours, when most Gulf and European flights arrive together.
3. Baggage reclaim
10 to 25 minutes. Belt numbers are on the screens in Arabic and English, and trolleys are free at the hall entrance. If a bag does not appear, the lost baggage desk is in the same hall. Tell your chauffeur; he will wait.
4. Customs
The green channel, unless you are carrying goods to declare. Nothing you are asked at this point has anything to do with us or with your car.
5. The exit door
Do not take the first door you see. Each terminal has more than one exit onto the forecourt and they stand several hundred metres apart. Our meeting point is one fixed spot, and a photograph of it is in the message you received the day before.
Counted from the landing, not from the ticket
- Waiting at the airport is free for the first 60 minutes, counted from the moment the aircraft actually lands, not from the time printed on your ticket.
- We follow the flight number you gave us. A delayed aircraft needs no message from you.
- A delay does not change the price. The price we sent you is the price you pay, and anything chargeable was a line in the quotation before you approved it.
- In the city, waiting is free for the first 15 minutes at each pickup point.
- If your flight is cancelled and you rebook, send us the new number and we move the pickup to match it.
Cancellation is free up to 24 hours before the appointed time. After that, half the value of the journey is due.
Where he stands, and what he is holding
The minute after the exit door is the one that goes wrong most often at this airport. It is the part we have made the most specific.
- One fixed spot. He stands at the same place for every arrival, at the terminal where your aircraft landed. The photograph of that spot is in your message. He does not move to another door and he does not wait in the car park.
- What he is holding. A printed card with your name on it, written the way you wrote it, with the George Car name beneath. He does not call out names and he does not approach travellers he has not been sent for.
- How to be certain it is him. The plate number on his card matches the plate in the photograph you were sent the day before. Ask him for your reference number; he has it.
- If you do not see him. Call him. His number has been open since two hours before your pickup time. If he does not answer, call the escalation line on +20 100 000 0001. It does not go through sales and it is answered by someone who can move a car.
- Nobody else will come for you. He will not send a colleague, a porter or a friend to collect you. If someone uses our name and is not the man named in your message, do not go with him, and tell us on the escalation line.
Out of the hall, the cases are taken from you at the kerb and the door is already open. He loads them without being asked, and a child seat is fitted before you land if you asked for one.
Know your chauffeur before you meet
The day before your journey, one message reaches you: the chauffeur’s name and number, the car photographed with its plate, and the pickup time.
- We do not publish photographs of our chauffeurs. We publish their names, their years of service, the languages they speak, and written standards you can read.
- The chauffeur’s number opens two hours before pickup and closes when the journey ends.
- If the chauffeur or the car changes for any reason, a new message reaches you before the appointment.
The terminals: one, two and three
Cairo has three passenger terminals on one site, and they are not within walking distance of one another.
Terminal 1
Regional and low-cost carriers, and most charter traffic.
Terminal 2
The majority of Gulf and European airlines. The busiest of the three for arriving visitors.
Terminal 3
EgyptAir and its Star Alliance partners.
Airlines move between terminals from time to time, so take the terminal on your ticket as the one that counts. We read it from your flight number as well and write it into your quotation, and our chauffeur meets you at the terminal where the aircraft actually arrives.
What the road actually takes
The airport sits north-east of the city. These are door-to-door figures in ordinary traffic, not best cases.
| Where you are going | Quiet hours | Peak hours |
|---|---|---|
| Heliopolis and Nasr City | 15–25 min | 30–45 min |
| New Cairo and the Fifth Settlement | 30–40 min | 45–70 min |
| Zamalek, Garden City, Downtown | 40–55 min | 70–95 min |
| Maadi | 45–60 min | 70–100 min |
| Giza and the pyramids | 60–75 min | 90–120 min |
Peak means roughly 07:30 to 10:30 and 15:00 to 20:00. Friday mornings are the clearest hours of the week. The hour before sunset during Ramadan is the heaviest, and we plan around it rather than promise through it.
What will not happen
Three things this car does not do.
No shopping stops
The car goes where you asked it to go. It does not call at a papyrus gallery, a perfume house or a carpet showroom on the way, and nobody in it will suggest that it should.
No commission
The chauffeur takes nothing from any shop, hotel or restaurant, and he has nothing to gain from where you choose to go. It is a term of his contract, not a matter of goodwill.
No other passengers
The car carries you and the people travelling with you, and nobody else. It is not shared, and it does not collect another booking on the way.
Send the flight number
The flight number, the date and how many of you are arriving are enough. A written, itemised quotation reaches you within 15 minutes, between 09:00 and 23:00 Cairo time.