AlMasria Universal Airlines

If you stand at a German leisure airport in summer or during the autumn break, you keep seeing aircraft with Egyptian registrations alongside Condor, TUIfly and SunExpress. One of the rarer companies among them is AlMasria Universal Airlines: a private airline from Cairo with just a handful of aircraft that brings vacationers between Europe and the Red Sea. Precisely because the fleet is so small, an AlMasria aircraft is a highlight for many spotters. Here you will learn how to recognize it with confidence and when your chances are best.

AlMasria Universal Airlines at a glance

AlMasria Universal Airlines is a private Egyptian airline based in Cairo. The name derives from the Arabic word for “Egyptian”; in everyday use the company is usually called simply AlMasria or AlMasria Airlines. Plans for the airline became public in 2008, and it began flight operations in June 2009. The airline’s then chief, Hassan Aziz, justified the timing with the financial crisis, which made aircraft cheap on the market.

The first two aircraft joined the fleet in 2009 as leased aircraft. How this business model works in general is explained in the article on aircraft leasing. In its early years AlMasria relied heavily on scheduled connections between Egypt and Saudi Arabia and, according to reference sources, was the first international airline to serve Yanbu on the Red Sea. Later the focus shifted markedly: today charter flights for vacationers shape the picture, supplemented by scheduled service from Egypt.

The home airport is Cairo Airport. For leisure traffic, the vacation resorts on the Red Sea are also crucial, above all Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada. AlMasria does not belong to an alliance.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code UJ: appears in the flight number, so on the departure board and in the tour operator’s documents.
• ICAO code LMU: appears in the air traffic control flight plan and on most flight trackers.
• Callsign ALMASRIA: how the crew calls in on the radio.

The ICAO code in particular matters for you as a spotter. It has no recognizable connection to the name, and if you search the tracker only for “ALM” or “UJ”, you often will not find the flights. So remember LMU. You can read more on radio names in the article Airline callsigns and their history. The difference between the two code systems is explained in the guide to IATA and ICAO codes.

The fleet: a few Airbus, two Boeing

AlMasria is small. According to reference sources, the fleet in 2026 comprises around eight aircraft. Not every aircraft is in service at all times – individual aircraft are at times parked. The exact numbers therefore keep changing.

Type	Number (as of 2026)	Role	Spotter note
Airbus A320	2	Short- and medium-haul	First generation, rather old examples
Airbus A321	4	Leisure traffic with many seats	Largest active type, partly with sharklets
Boeing 737-400	2	Short- and medium-haul	A classic that has become rare in Europe
Airbus A330-200	formerly 1	Long-haul type	In the fleet until 2020, historic today
Boeing 737-500	formerly 1	Short-haul	In the fleet until 2020, historic today

The Airbus A321 is the most important aircraft for leisure traffic: it offers clearly more seats than the A320 and suits full charter flights to the Red Sea well. The Airbus A320 complements the fleet. Both types come from the manufacturer Airbus and belong to the first generation of the A320 family – there are no neo engines at AlMasria.

The Boeing 737-400 is exciting for spotters. This version of the 737 Classic series from Boeing has become rare in European passenger service. When an AlMasria 737 lands at your airport, you have a subject that is no longer common.

The fleet history is also worth a look. Until 2020, AlMasria flew an Airbus A330-200 and a Boeing 737-500. Photos of these aircraft now belong in the “historic” category – if you have one of them in your archive, you own a real collector’s item.

A320, A321 or 737-400? How to tell them apart

With such a small fleet, exact identification is especially worthwhile. The three active types are easy to tell apart with a little practice.

If you cannot yet reliably tell the A320 family apart, the article Telling the A318, A319, A320 and A321 apart has the key features. On wingtips there is also the guide Recognizing winglets, sharklets and more.

How to recognize AlMasria

The most important identifying feature is at the tail: the Egyptian registration with SU-. That makes it clear that an airline from Egypt is flying – but not yet which one. Because EgyptAir, Air Cairo, FlyEgypt and Nile Air are also registered with SU-. What decides it, then, are the airline’s titles on the fuselage, the ICAO code LMU on the tracker and the specific registration.

Another clue is the aircraft type. A Boeing 737-400 with an SU registration is rather rare today and therefore narrows the choice. With an A320 or A321, on the other hand, you have to look more closely. How to tell the 737 generations apart is shown in the article Telling the Boeing 737 Original, Classic, NG and MAX apart.

Especially in charter traffic, it also happens that aircraft are briefly flying for other airlines or replacing an aircraft that dropped out. Then the flight number does not match the livery. How such operations work is explained in the article on wet lease.

Spotting AlMasria in Germany

In Germany you meet AlMasria almost exclusively in leisure traffic. As destinations from Hurghada, reference sources name Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hannover, Bremen, Munich and Stuttgart, among others. Which airports are served in a particular season depends on contracts with tour operators, though. A destination may be missing again next year – or a new one may be added. This often changes with the switch between summer and winter schedules.

For photo planning, the observation decks are a good fit: at Düsseldorf the observation deck gives you a good overview of the apron, as do those at Hannover, Bremen and Stuttgart. At Munich the visitors’ hill is suited to pictures on the ground and at landing.

When the leisure airlines come especially thick and fast is shown in the article on the start of vacations when spotting. And because leisure flights often land early in the morning or late in the evening, a look at the sun position pays off: with the sun position planner you find out which side of the airport has the right light at arrival time.

Common mix-ups

• Taking every SU registration for AlMasria – EgyptAir, Air Cairo, FlyEgypt, Nile Air and Air Sinai also fly or flew with Egyptian registration.
• Searching for the wrong code – on the tracker the airline is LMU, not “ALM” or “AMU”.
• Logging the A321 as an A320 – look at the length and the additional doors ahead of and behind the wing.
• Mistaking the 737-400 for a 737-800 – the Classic version has flattened engines and usually no winglets.
• Thinking AlMasria is an EgyptAir subsidiary – the airline is private, but uses engineering and training from EgyptAir.
• Listing the A330 as a current type – the A330-200 left the fleet in 2020 and is historic today.

Conclusion

AlMasria Universal Airlines is not an airline you see every day. With around eight aircraft, older Airbus types and two rare Boeing 737-400s, it is a typical candidate for the wish list. If you know the ICAO code LMU, keep an eye on arrivals from Hurghada and log registrations cleanly, you quickly turn a leisure airline sighting into a special entry. How rare such a find actually is, you can judge with the article How rare is my sighting?.