Russian Tourists Return to Egyptian Resorts

Russia resumed flights to Egyptian Red Sea resorts on Monday, ending a ban that had lasted almost six years following the bombing of a Russian airliner that killed all 224 people onboard. The local branch of the Daesh group said it downed the plane over Sinai in October 2015, shortly after the aircraft took off from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. At the time, Russian officials insisted that security procedures at Egyptian airports were insufficient. Early on Monday morning, EgyptAir flight MS724 took off from Moscow with 300 tourists. Hours later, the Airbus A300-330 landed in Hurghada, a popular Red Sea destination, Egypt’s national carrier said in a statement. The Russian plane was welcomed by a ceremonial “water salute” on touchdown and Russian tourists, most of them wearing facemasks, were greeted with flowers and balloons upon disembarking. The statement said EgyptAir would operate seven flights from the Russian capital to Hurghada and Sham el-Sheikh, on the tip of the Sinai Peninsula. The first EgyptAir flight from Moscow to Sharm el-Sheikh was scheduled for Tuesday, it said. Egypt’s envoy to Russia, Ihab Nasr, told a local TV station on Sunday that there would be 20 direct flights between Moscow and the two Red Sea resorts every week, and that Egyptian and Russian officials were discussing additional flights.

Moscow’s Federal Air Transport Agency has issued permits to eight Russian airlines for regular flights to Egyptian tourist resorts in Hurghada and Sharm El-Sheikh. According to media reports, the permits have been granted to Aeroflot, Papeda, Racia, S7, Smartavia, Ural Airlines, Nordwind and Azur Air. The Russian state aviation agency, Rosaviatsiya, cleared the eight Russian airlines to operate flights to Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh from 43 cities across Russia. However, the list does not include St. Petersburg, the destination of the doomed Russian airliner downed over Sinai. For now, Rossiya, a subsidiary of the Russia’s state-owned flagship carrier Aeroflot, appears to be the only Russian airline with scheduled flights to the two Egyptian Red Sea resorts from Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport. Its flight FV5361 landed in Hurghada early on Monday afternoon with more than 500 Russian tourists on board. Around two hours later, Rossiya’s flight FV5633 landed in Sharm el-Sheikh, carrying over 500 tourists. Other Russian airlines cleared to operate flights from Moscow to Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh — such as Aeroflot’s low-cost subsidiary Pobeda and S7 Airlines, Russia’s largest privately owned carrier — have no flights scheduled for the coming days, according to their websites.

The development comes a month after Russian President Vladimir Putin canceled his order suspending the flights after the 2015 disaster. Flights between Moscow and Cairo resumed in April 2018 after Egyptian officials beefed up security at Cairo’s international airport, but talks about restoring direct air travel to Red Sea resorts had dragged on. In 2016, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi finally said the downing of the Russian airliner was a “terrorist attack.” Russia’s ambassador to Egypt, Georgy Borizenko, said the decision to resume flights was not an easy one for Moscow. “However, we ascertained that in recent years Egypt’s airports and resorts have dramatically increased security measures. Therefore, we expect that Russian tourists, who remember the traditional Egyptian hospitality well and miss the Red Sea very much, will have a safe and comfortable stay,” Borizenko was quoted by the state RIA Novosti news agency as saying. Britain, another major source of visitors to Egypt which had also suspended flights to Sharm el-Sheikh in the wake of the bombing, lifted its restrictions in October 2019. The 2015 attack was a serious blow to Egypt’s vital tourism industry, which was also affected by the unrest following its 2011 Arab Spring uprising. Egyptian authorities have since spent millions of dollars upgrading security at the country’s airports, hoping to get Moscow to change its mind. The resumption of flights will be key for Egypt’s tourism sector, which was dealt another blow by the coronavirus pandemic over the past year. Authorities have kept looser restrictions in Red Sea towns, trying to attract foreign visitors. But they have mandated vaccinations for workers in the tourism sector in Red Sea resorts, though a vaccination campaign has been slow elsewhere

Egypt previously welcomed Russia’s decision on July 8 to lift the ban on charter flights with Egypt after a presidential decree was issued by the Kremlin. The Russian Center for Combating the Coronavirus said the return of Russian tourism to the Egyptian resorts in Hurghada commence from Aug. 9. It said trips to Egypt have been increased in Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada in South Sinai. Each city will receive five Russian flights a week. Nabil Hussein, a tourism expert, said the return of Russian tourism to the cities will result in the return of trained workers to the tourism sector, raising Egypt’s tourism classification as one of the best tourist destinations around the world. He told Arab News that Egypt will benefit from more than US$4 billion in annual revenues, with the number of Russian tourists estimated to exceed 2 million. However, Mohamed Fala, a member of the Red Sea Tourism Investors Association, said it is difficult for Russian companies to operate direct flights from Russia to Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada soon, adding that the set date of Aug. 9 may be postponed for at least a week or two. He said the return of Russian tourism will be gradual, provided that it begins to increase during the winter, specifically during November and December, adding that all hotel facilities in the Red Sea and South Sinai are ready to receive Russian tourists. He said the tourist movement coming to Egypt from Russia is vital as it continues throughout the year and that Russian tourists travel in large numbers, which revives hotel occupancy in the coastal tourist cities, especially Hurghada and Sharm El-Sheikh. “The average number of Russians who were visiting Egypt before 2015 was about 2.5 million annually,” he said. Russian flights were stopped six years ago in 2015 due to the crash of a Russian plane on the beaches of Sharm El-Sheikh.