Russia resumed flights to Egyptian Red Sea resorts on Monday, ending a ban that had lasted almost six years following the bombing of a Russian airliner that killed all 224 people onboard.
The local branch of the Islamic State group said it downed the plane over Sinai in October 2015, shortly after the aircraft took off from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. At the time, Russian officials insisted that security procedures at Egyptian airports were insufficient.
The statement said EgyptAir would operate seven flights from the Russian capital to Hurghada and Sham el-Sheikh, on the tip of the Sinai Peninsula. The first EgyptAir flight from Moscow to Sharm el-Sheikh was scheduled for Tuesday, it said. For now, Rossiya, a subsidiary of the Russia's state-owned flagship carrier Aeroflot, appears to be the only Russian airline with scheduled flights to the two Egyptian Red Sea resorts from Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport. Its flight FV5361 landed in Hurghada early on Monday afternoon with more than 500 Russian tourists on board. Around two hours later, Rossiya's flight FV5633 landed in Sharm el-Sheikh, carrying over 500 tourists.
Flights between Moscow and Cairo resumed in April 2018 after Egyptian officials beefed up security at Cairo's international airport, but talks about restoring direct air travel to Red Sea resorts had dragged on. In 2016, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi finally said the downing of the Russian airliner was a "terrorist attack."
Britain, another major source of visitors to Egypt which had also suspended flights to Sharm el-Sheikh in the wake of the bombing, lifted its restrictions in October 2019.
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