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After ending Russia-Egypt flights in 2015, flights to resume


Sheetal Sukhija
16 Dec 2017

MOSCOW, Russia - As part of a new deal, Russia and Egypt have agreed on resuming flights between Moscow and Cairo starting from February.

Flights between Moscow and Egypt were suspended after a 2015 bombing, in which the local Islamic State affiliate brought down a Russian airliner over Sinai in October 2015, killing all 224 people on board.
The attack decimated Egypt’s vital tourism industry and since then, Russia and Egypt have halted flights for more than two years.

Since 2015, Egyptian authorities have spent millions of dollars to upgrade security at its airports, hoping to get Moscow to change its mind.

In a statement, Russian Transportation Minister Maxim Sokolov said he and Egyptian Minister of Civil Aviation Sherif Fathi signed a protocol on security cooperation that would allow direct flights between Moscow and Cairo to resume, starting from February.

However, Sokolov said that Russia is not revealing if it would resume charter flights to Egyptian resorts on the Red Sea, once a popular destination for Russian tourists, adding that this would be “the next stage” of negotiations.

Earlier this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin, on a visit to Cairo said the deal on the resumption of flights could be signed “in the nearest time” and praised Egypt’s efforts to boost security at its airports.

On Thursday, Fathi headed to Moscow to finalize the agreement on the resumption of flights.

Later on Friday, Egypt’s civil aviation ministry said in a statement that the two sides will hold talks in April on the resumption of Russian flights to Egyptian resorts.

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