U.S. Begins Evacuation Flights From Cairo

By LIAM STACK and J. DAVID GOODMAN

Published: January 31, 2011

CAIRO — The State Department began a voluntary evacuation of American citizens from Egypt on specially chartered flights on Monday as protesters returned in large numbers to the central Liberation Square for a seventh day, the army increased its presence and the security police redeployed in the capital.
The first American government flight departed Cairo International Airport for Larnaca, Cyprus, in the early afternoon with 42 passengers, and as many as eight more flights were preparing to take off for other nearby “safe haven” destinations, including Turkey and Greece, said Elizabeth O. Colton, a spokeswoman for the American Embassy in Cairo. Two more flights left for Athens later in the afternoon with about 177 passengers each, she said..
“Our goal is to get people to a safe place where they can make their own onward travel arrangements,” the embassy said in a statement on Monday. Americans taking government-chartered flights — including dependents of government officials in Egypt, some diplomats and private citizens — would be expected to reimburse the State Department for the cost of travel, which had yet to be determined, at a later date.
Even as the government worked to process all the requests for flights, many Americans had already found room on planes chartered by private companies with workers in Egypt. An estimated 90,000 Americans live and work in the country, most in cities now roiled by antigovernment protests, looting and a military presence that includes tanks and helicopters. Privately chartered flights began over the weekend.
For travelers forced to rely on commercial airlines, the scene was chaotic as the Cairo airport overflowed with tourists and Egyptians desperate to get on an outgoing flight. Outside Terminal 1 more than 1,000 people — mostly Egyptians — sat on sidewalks and in the airport parking lot, surrounded by luggage.
Tempers boiled over in places as travelers struggled to get aboard a limited number of commercial flights. At one point the airport’s departures board stopped announcing flight times, The Associated Press reported, in an attempt to ease tensions. But the move served only to stoke anger over delays and cancellations.

Liam Stack reported from Cairo, and J. David Goodman from New York.