Solar Impulse 2 lands in Egypt in penultimate stop of world tour

After the two-day flight from Spain, just one final leg lies between it and its final destination, Abu Dhabi, where it started its journey in March last year. The aircraft landed in Spain in June, after completing the first solo transatlantic flight powered only by sunlight. 

After setting off from Seville on Monday morning, the plane passed through Algerian, Tunisian, Italian and Greek airspace, and flew over the Giza Pyramids before touching down at Cairo airport on Wednesday. Its crew cheered as the plane, no heavier than a car but with the wingspan of a Boeing 747, landed, and trailed after it on bicycles. It had finished the 3,745-km (2,327-mile) journey with an average speed of 76.7km (47.7 miles) an hour, the flight organiser said. 

“It was fantastic, everything worked well,” pilot André Borschberg told the control tower, as a live stream from the cockpit was broadcast on Solar Impulse 2’s Facebook page. He emerged from the cockpit and hugged Bertrand Piccard, with whom he has taken turns flying the plane around the world. Solar Impulse is being flown on its 35,400-km (22,000-mile) trip in stages, with Piccard and his Swiss compatriot Borschberg alternating at the controls of the single-seat plane. 

Piccard, who had arrived early to greet the aircraft, told reporters that flying Solar Impulse 2 showed what new technologies can do. The 58-year-old had flown the plane across the Atlantic in a 6,765 km journey. 

It had completed its flight from New York to Seville in 71 hours, flying through the night with the energy stored in its 17,000 photovoltaic cells. 

“It’s a new era for energy,” Piccard said. “I love to fly this plane because when you are in the air for several days you have the impression to be in a film of science fiction,” he said.