(Updated) Egypt Air Allegedly Wipes Israel off the Map

Accident, prophetic, or wishful thinking? Those are the questions swirling after it was discovered Egyptian airline Egypt Air does not include Israel on a destination map on its website.

"Egypt Air, the largest airline in Egypt, has removed Israel from the map – literally," the Israeli news outlet Ynetnews.com reports. "On its website, Ynet has learned, Jordan's land reaches the Mediterranean Sea."

According to the outlet, looking past Israel's existence is odd considering one of it subsidiaries, Air Sinai, regularly flies to the tiny, Jewish country.

"On the map are the names of the Mideast capitals – Amman, Beirut, and Damascus – but Israel is nowhere to be found," YNet says. "The omission is especially odd seeing as the company continues to fly to Israel four times a week."

YNet does note that flights from Cairo to to Tel Aviv had been temporally halted due to unrest in Egypt, but they were eventually reinstated. However, if you try to book that route on the main Egypt Air website, you'll be unsuccessful:

But a quick search on a third-party flight site shows Egypt Air does offer Israeli-bound flights:

We reached out to Egypt Air in New York. The representative said she "didn't know" why Israel was removed, but did confirm that the airline does fly from Cairo to Tel Aviv via Air Sinai. She said she would alert headquarters in Cairo and see what they said.

UPDATE:

The representative from Egypt Air called back after we published our story. She said that because Air Sinai is a subsidiary of Egypt Air, and not Egypt Air itself, that's why Israel is not showing up.

"It doesn't matter," she said when asked if that's odd considering they are connected. "The map only shows what cities we fly to."

She also claimed that Egypt Air has never included Israel on its destination map, which runs counter to YNet's assertion.

The site Mapsoftheworld.com explains the connection between the two airlines:

In order to run scheduled flights between Egypt and Israel, EgyptAir launched its subsidiary, Air Sinai, in the year 1982. This route was previously served by the Nefetiti Aviation. Presently Air Sinai, operating under EgyptAir, also runs a number of charter flights to various destinations. Air Sinai also runs wet lease services for other airlines.

The central hub of Air Sinai is Cairo in Egypt from which it operates Flights to Tel Aviv in Israel. Therefore, the only destination of Air Sinai, besides Cairo, is Tel Aviv. The airline runs three weekly flights from Cairo to Tel Aviv. Air Sinai also runs a number of charter flights between Egypt and Israel.

The fleet of Air Sinai consists of only one aircraft namely Boeing 737-500. This sole airplane of Air Sinai has served the airline for years without a mark on its body.

We're reaching out to YNet for comment also.

UPDATE II:

We talked with the YNet reporter who wrote the story. He said he's not claiming that Egypt Air "removed" Israel from its map, as he doesn't have proof that Egypt Air ever listed Tel Aviv as a destination to begin with. He said his reference to "removed" was more general.

We also called Egypt Air in Cairo to ask if Air Sinai was a subsidiary and if they every listed Israel on their destination map. They responded "no" to both questions. The representative did say the company is aware of a slight map error (the mistake of a third-party company) regarding the geography and that it is working to be corrected. He also said that Air Sinai is not listed on its website because it is a separate company. When asked why other companies are listed, he said because they are part of the "Star Alliance."

"This is not political," he said.

The title of this story has been updated.