A direct passenger flight left Cairo for Tehran on Saturday March 30, the first such flight in more than three decades.
The Associated Press reports that Iran-Egypt relations have been slowly improving since the election of Mohammad Morsi as Egyptian president, beginning a thaw in diplomatic relations that had been frozen since the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
According to Cairo airport officials, an Air Memphis flight departed for Tehran with Iranian diplomats among the passengers as well as some Egyptian businessmen. The flight is scheduled to continue to Aswan in southern Egypt after the stop in Tehran.
After Iranian president visited Cairo in February, Egypt and Iran reached an agreement to promote tourism between the two countries.
While Iran has dropped visa requirements for Egyptians traveling to Iran, Egyptian authorities still require Iranian travelers to obtain a visa and adhere to a number of restrictions regarding the places the can visit.
