Flights between Russia, Egypt may resume within month, regular flights to Cairo to be first ones - source
MOSCOW/CAIRO. Jan 20 (Interfax) - Regular flights from Russia to Egypt may resume within a month, a source familiar with the situation told Interfax.
"Air travel between Egypt and Russia is expected to resume within a month already. Tentatively, first flights will be regular ones to Cairo," the source said, adding that a resumption of flights to Egyptian resorts is supposed to be resumed following it, initially also on a regular basis.
"Depending on the determination to safely receive and provide services to Russian tourists, air travel to Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh will be gradually resumed in the future. Initially, it will also be regular flights, perhaps, and charter flights only later, however, the final decision on the resort airports hasn't yet made," the source said.
Air travel between two countries was suspended in November 2015, following a crash of a Russian Metrojet (Kogalymavia) Airbus A321, en route from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg, in the Sinai Peninsula. There were 217 passengers and seven crewmembers on board, all of them were killed.
Russian authorities qualified the crash as a terrorist attack caused by a bomb detonation onboard the airliner. As a result, the plane collapsed in midair.
On November 8, 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree suspending air travel between Russia and Egypt.
