Half of Cairo Airport at Opera Square
In a beautiful scene reflecting the splendor, elegance, and cleanliness of Opera Square, we see the bus moving across the square before stopping in front of the elegant station, whose façade was covered in black and white marble and which stood on Al-Gomhoria Street
Fans of old black-and-white Egyptian films, especially admirers of Abdel Halim Hafez and Zubaida Tharwat, will remember the 1961 film “A Day of My Life.” One scene takes place inside the old Cairo Airport, when, after arriving from abroad, Zubaida Tharwat asks her father and his wife for permission to go to the bathroom, attempting to escape the engagement her opportunistic stepmother had arranged with one of her relatives. In the bathroom, she hears the microphone announce, “EgyptAir announces the departure of the bus heading to Opera Square.” She then uses the bus as a means of escape. We see the white EgyptAir bus, after she boards it, moving along while towing a trailer in the form of a white box, inside which she meets Abdel Halim Hafez.
In a beautiful scene reflecting the splendor, elegance, and cleanliness of Opera Square, we see the bus moving across the square before stopping in front of the elegant station, whose façade was covered in black and white marble and which stood on Al-Gomhoria Street between Adly and Abdel Khalek Tharwat Streets. She gets off and evades Abdel Halim by pretending to enter the station. The scene shows its elegance and order, as well as the smart appearance of the employees while they carry the passengers’ bags. When she comes out, she sees her father and his wife arriving by car, so they hurry into the station looking for her. We then move to a scene inside the station that reflects the beauty of its décor, where her father asks the employee at the counter about her, bringing the station scenes to an end.
The film’s scenes quickly and faithfully conveyed many details of the station. The station was as elegant as an international airport and provided services equivalent to half the services offered at the airport: completing boarding procedures for departing passengers, reserving seats on the departing aircraft, weighing luggage, and checking it in. For arriving passengers, it provided transportation from the airport to the station in central Cairo, transported their luggage, and delivered it to them there.
The station’s role ended with the opening of Cairo Air Port (in 1963), which had the facilities to handle all travel procedures. This led to its closure. Because the building beneath which the station stood had become old, it was demolished. EgyptAir still uses the land to serve pilgrims traveling for Hajj, through booths and tents where it receives them to complete their booking and travel procedures.
