Russia and Egypt agreed to open air links
Presidents Russia and Egypt Vladimir Putin and Abdel Fattah al-Sisi decided to fully restore air communication between the two countries.
At the talks on October 17 in Sochi, the leaders of the two countries discussed the restoration of charters to the Arab resorts of the Red Sea, Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh, popular among Russian travelers.
Vladimir Putin said: “We will strive to resume charter flights on these routes in the near future.” The President of the Russian Federation noted that the Egyptian side is making all possible efforts to improve the degree of transport safety, and drew attention to the fact that direct regular flights Moscow-Cairo were launched in April 2018.
Maya Lomidze, Executive Director of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia, believes that tourist operators will need no more than 2-4 weeks to fully restore the tourist flow from the Russian Federation.
In November 2015, air traffic between the two countries was interrupted after the crash over Sinai of the plane of the Russian airline Kogalymavia, which was flying from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg. 217 Russian travelers and 7 crew members who were on board were killed. The incident was classified as a terrorist attack.
In December 2017, the Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation Maxim Sokolov and the head of the Ministry of Aviation of Egypt signed a protocol on cooperation to ensure the safety of civil aviation, then a presidential decree on the opening of regular flights between the two states was issued.