A Russian official who works in the tourism industry, said that Russian tourists may start to fly to the Egyptian resorts starting from October, after a travel restriction which lasted for 10 months.
Vice-president of Russian Union of Travel Industry Yuri Barzykin said :”Russian tourists will be able to fly to Egypt in October this year after the final approval of the security procedures in Egypt”, according to the Russian newspaper Izvestia. “A mechanism of implementation must be worked out to guarantee the security of flights by October, and if all goes according to plan, there will be the first flights”, he said.
Barzykin said that for the safety of Russian tourists in Egypt, the plan will include a separate exit or terminals in one of the airports in Egypt.
Oleksandr Osaulenko, Director of an association of tour operators in outbound tourism, said: ”Our specialists assessed the situation positively and said that if the situation will develop in the same dynamics, the flights will start in the second half of October.”
Egypt and Russia have set a roadmap to open flights between Russia and Egypt again, according to Minister of Civil Aviation Sherif Fathy.
President El-Sisi, in an interview with the Egyptian editors of national newspapers, stated that he is optimistic about resuming the Russian flights to Egypt as soon as possible, expressing his understanding of the Russian restrictions after the Russian plane crash.
It is worthy to note that Russian authorities demanded Egypt to take extra security procedures in its airports, resorts and facilities to guarantee the safety of the Russian tourists. Flights to Egypt were suspended after 31 October 2015, on the Sinai Peninsula crashed aircraft companies Kogalymavia with 217 passengers and 7 crew members on Board.
