Drone Laws in Egypt
Last update on 24.06.2020 | 30 Kommentare
In this post, you will find the current laws for drones in Egypt.
I have bad news for travelers to Egypt: operating drones is not allowed there. According to the Egyptian Aviation Act under Article 46, sentence 8:
„No unmanned aircraft is allowed to fly or to work in the territory of the State unless upon a permission of Civil Aviation Authority.
In all cases, using unmanned aircraft is prohibited as per Rules of the Air and Air Traffic set forth in this respect.“
The paragraph leaves the possibility to obtain a license from the CAA. So far, however, I have not heard of any cases where this approval was granted.
In newspaper reports, one can even read that the mere possession of a drone in Egypt can already lead to a jail sentence. But that does not surprise me because of the unstable political situation in the Arab Republic.
I am annoyed by the strict rules because I am very enthusiastic about the ancient Egyptian culture. With a drone, you could capture many charming places from the air. If you manage to fly in Egypt, you should always keep a safe distance from the archaeological sites so that the treasures of Egypt are not damaged. That’s not worth a few shots. Above the pyramids or other great temples, I would only fly with a fully redundant multicopter. Also, you should remember that many attractions have a high presence of military police. So do not risk too much.
Helpful Links: Aviation Law, Gov.uk, Egypt Today
We have researched the listed drone regulations for Egypt to the best of our knowledge. We cannot guarantee the correctness of the information. If you want to be on the safe side, contact the competent aviation authority. Alternatively, you can also ask the embassy in your country for further information about the regulations. Please leave us a comment when you receive news and/or gain experience with your copter in Egypt!
Hi,
We are planning to travel next year in Africa and Asia and we want to know if, at least, where the srones are forbidden, if they keep it at customs and we can retrieve it upon departure. I’ve read in sone cases where it was impossible to get it back.
Hi Mariko,
I am sorry, but I can not guarantee you how the officials react when they find your drone. Let me know which experiences you have made.
Hi, from my recent experience, my drone was seized at taba port of entry in Egypt. They said it’s not permitted to bring in the country. At the end of my trip I have to go back and receive it they said. They filled out some papier and gave me a receipt. I will see in a few days if it’s still there !!
Hi Kevin, so did you get your Drone back? I leave on Wednesday bound for Egypt and now reading this I’m considering leaving the Drone at home
Hello.
I’m a commercial producer who’d like to talk to you about a potential job. Please can you contact me?
Thanks
Paul Alexander
Following this case. I’m going to Egypt soon. If I’m not allowed to get in with it, I hope they have a safe place to keep that for you.
Hi Francis,
Do you know the website to register and try to get this permission?
Hi Glauber,
I am not aware of any valuable resource for the authorization process. I am sorry!
We brought the drone to eygpt without knowing the strict rules and got caught. We did not mange to take any photos after being told by the guides that we should not have that.
Upon the check at boarding they called us to one side and did a series of checks (e.g. Turn on and operate to fly the plane and look through all the photo album to ensure we didn’t take any.
After that a gentlemen that work in the custom who speak fluent English came and told us to put the drone without the battery into the check-in luggage.
This experience is not exactly bad to us as we understand why they are doing that. They worried about terrorist planting bombs in the plane or use it to take videos of military area.
We respect them and followed their request fully to ensure everyone have a safe and fun experience in eygpt.
Thank you for reporting your experiences!
Hi,
I arrived in Cairo 2 days ago and got my drone through customs. They didn’t even notice it. They were more interested in the $60,000 cash I had on me.
It was also 3am and the dude at customs looked tired so maybe that’s why he didn’t notice the drone.
With that said I really wanted to fly my drone around the pyramids but don’t think I’m going to take that risk now :/
Hi Adrian,
Yes, probably you were lucky! I wouldn’t risk it, too.
Yeah now that I have been in Egypt I have been to many places that the drone would go unnoticed (mainly Red Sea area of El Gouna, Hurgadah)
Most of the temples including the Pyramids are heavily armed. If it didn’t get shot down, you might (kidding… but still wouldn’t poke the bear)
I think Aswan and some of the remote temples you could get away with it…
I’m very jealous! If you get some footage I’d love to use a sample
wow… good i went in here to check it up 🙂 Was packing all my drone tools and thought “am i allowed” lol
Thx for letting know.
Of course sad that i will not be able to get some shots on white sand beach, but perhaps better to leave it home.
You’re welcome! 🙂
I have a Mavic air which I braught accidently into Egypt. I was travelling from South Africa to Vienna, via Egypt to do a short work contract.
The drone went through Cairo undetected, as my check- baggage was not actually scanned. I went to the Port Said International airport the next day to go offshore (by helicopter) to the oilfields, but they saw my drone in my luggage. My chopper flight was delayed for a hour while the immigration police contacted national security.
My company agent was allowed to keep the drone onshore at the company offices in Cairo for safekeeping. Today, on the 3rd of May 2019, I am travelling back to Vienna, and I am leaving the drone behind. I wont take the chance to take the drone back through the airport in Cairo. I never intended to use the drone in Egypt or offshore. Any buyers out there?
I can buy it but for how much , and how can i pay u
I’m interested
01000040589
Hey, I am packpacking for a couple of months and have a drone. We are getting to Egypt at some point. Will they take it away at the airport?
yes as they said up
Does this include small DIY drones? I am racing drone pilot and i would like to carry my toothpick drone with me on my vacation. It can be considered a toy. Is there any chases i can bring that?
We brought a DJi Phantom 4 to Hurghada airport in 2018. No check when we came to county. At the hotel we asked if they know anything about drone laws and they called the local security instantly and asked for our hotel room number. We did some amazing shots of quad canion ride. We saw the shots next year at the local turist agency who asked us if they can get the footage. Anyway when going back to our homeland we had quite some problems. They deleted all my sd cards and footage on my laptop. It took us 1,5 hour extra to get trough the security. I’m a system administrator so I was able to restore all the footage with ease.
I have been in hurghada at 05.11.2021. they took my drone at the airport. DJI mini2. Gave me a receipt. after 7 days, when I had a flight back home, I was able to retrieve my drone, after I payed aprox (3 EUR) per day for “keeping my drone safe” one hour extra at airport security with papers. 50 pounds per day first week, 100 pounds per day after first week.
Hi Bogdan,
So sorry to learn about your experience. Thank you for sharing it, though! It will help others visiting the country.
Has anyone actually ever obtained permission/license from Egypt’s Civil Aviation Authority?
As far as I know, no.. 🙁