Russian Tourism to Return to Egypt Next February After Resumption of Flights Between the Two Countries

By Akram Medhat

Egyptian Minister of Civil Aviation Sherif Fathy and Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov signed a protocol on resuming flights between Cairo and Moscow, marking the official starting signal for the return of Russian tourism to Egypt after a halt of more than two years, as part of Sherif Fathy's current visit to Russia to finalize the procedures for this protocol.

It was also agreed that the two governments would give airlines the green light to operate flights between Cairo and Moscow from next February 1, with each airline taking its own decision on actual operations on the commercial basis that suits it, which represents the return of Russian tourism once again.

The Egyptian and Russian ministers are scheduled to meet again next April to set a mechanism for resuming flights to Egyptian tourist cities.

It is worth noting that Russian President Vladimir Putin officially announced a complete ban on flights between Egypt and Russia on November 7, 2015, following the crash of the Russian plane on October 31 of the same year, which killed 217 Russian tourists and 7 crew members, resulting in the halt of Russian tourism, which is Egypt's top market, accounting for about 30% of total tourist traffic to the Egyptian destination from around the world.