Egyptian Airports Company (EAC) expects to issue the tender for the construction of a new passenger terminal at Borg el-Arab International airport in Alexandria by August or September this year, a source with knowledge of the project tells MEED.

The tender is expected to be issued following the reaching of a final agreement between EAC and Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), which will provide $180m in financing.

MEED reported that the loan’s annual interest rate is set at 0.1 per cent, payable within 40 years and with a 10-year grace period.

The new terminal will be built on a 36,000 square metre site, and will be designed to handle up to 4 million passengers annually.

Borg el-Arab International processed 2.21 million passengers in 2017, according to data from the Egyptian Holding Company for Airports and Air Navigation (EHCAAN).

EAC expects to open a new airport, Sphinx International, in the third quarter of 2018. Located on the Cairo to Alexandria desert road, the airport will handle up to 600 passengers an hour.

The Egyptian military financed the construction of Sphinx International, as well as two other airports under construction: New Capital Cairo and Bredwell International.

Passenger traffic at Egyptian airports rose by 10 per cent in 2017, the second-highest growth rate since 2011, when the Arab Spring triggered a 27 per cent drop in passenger traffic.

Russia’s decision to lift its two-year ban on Egypt-bound flights following the terrorist attack on a Metrojet plane over the Sinai Peninsula in 2015 is expected to sustain passenger growth in Egypt’s main airports this year.