Russian experts to carry out final security checks in Cairo airport

A team of Russian experts will arrive for security checks at the Cairo International Airport today, sources from the Egyptian capital said.

The upcoming inspection is expected to be the final one before the sides discuss the timeframe for restart of air communication between the two countries suspended more than a year ago following the crash of a Russian airliner in Egypt in a terrorist attack, TASS reports.

Moscow and Cairo are yet to sign an agreement on air safety after which the issue of reopening flights will be discussed in practical terms. In the first decade of February, the Egyptian minister of aviation is expected in Moscow, and experts believe a bilateral document may be signed during his visit.

Russia suspended air service with Egypt after a Russian passenger plane crashed over Sinai last October. The A321 plane belonging to Russia’s air company Kogalymavia was en route from Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt to St. Petersburg in Russia when it crashed over the Sinai Peninsula early on October 31 last year. All the 224 people onboard, including 217 passengers and the seven-member crew, died. 

Russian Federal Security Service said the plane crashed as a result of a terrorist attack.