The Russian Federal Agency for Tourism expects charter flights to Egypt to resume, head of the agency Zarina Doguzova told reporters at the Eastern Economic Forum on Thursday.
"The crisis center takes a decision on resumption of charter flights to Egypt. We submit our proposals on opening certain destinations at each meeting and surely favor the opening of charter flights to Egypt. We expect both regular flights to expand gradually and charter flights to be resumed," she said.
Air traffic between Russia and Egypt was completely interrupted in November 2015 after a plane of Russia’s Kogalymavia airline crashed in Sinai on its way from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg. There were 217 passengers and seven crew members on board. All of them were killed in the crash. The Federal Security Service (FSB) qualified the incident as a terrorist attack.
In January 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the resumption of regular air traffic to Cairo, but charter flights to Egyptian resorts were not resumed. Over the past years, the Egyptian side has improved its system of control and inspection of passengers and their luggage, as well as significantly upgraded the infrastructure of the airports.
On July 8, Putin canceled the 2015 decree banning Russian airlines from flying to Egyptian resorts. Air traffic with the Egyptian resorts on the Moscow-Hurghada and Moscow-Sharm el-Sheikh routes was resumed on August 9.
