Egyptian and Russian officials have belittled the impact of the return of Russian air traffic to the Egyptian capital, stressing that the effect on the Egyptian tourism would remain limited, unless Moscow decided to resume direct flights to tourist destinations on the Red Sea.
Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a reassuring message, announcing on Wednesday that Russia and Egypt would continue to work together to resume flights in other tracks.
Cairo airport authorities announced on Wednesday a state of emergency in preparation for the arrival of the first flight of Russian Airlines. Russia suspended flights with Cairo in October 2015 when a Russian passenger plane exploded over the Sinai Peninsula after taking off from the popular tourist resort Sharm el-Sheikh.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the blast, which killed 224 people, mostly Russians, as well as the crew. The head of the Russian Federal Security Service, Alexander Bortnikov, said the blast was caused by a 1 KG-TNT bomb placed on board.
The first flight (Aeroflot SU400) took off from Russia's Sheremetyevo International Airport on Wednesday at 10:50 pm Moscow local time, and is expected to arrive on Thursday at 12:25 am Cairo local time.
Well-informed sources said that tightened security control was implemented in all airport locations, especially in Terminal 2, which was allocated to receive Egyptian and Russian flights.
As of Thursday, EgyptAir is set to resume Cairo-Moscow flights with a flight to Moscow departing at 9:30am CET from Cairo International Airport’s Terminal 2.
EgyptAir will be flying three weekly flights to the Russian capital.
Putin said in a speech during the receipt of the credentials of 17 new foreign ambassadors to the Russian Federation, including the Ambassador of Egypt, that his country and Egypt would join efforts to resume direct flights.
“Today, regular flights are resuming between our countries’ capitals [Moscow and Cairo],” he said. “Efforts will continue in order to resume air traffic on other routes,” he added.
