CAIRO, February 3. /TASS/. On Friday, Russian experts, who arrived in Egypt the day before, began testing the security system at the Cairo International Airport, an airport source told TASS.
"The experts have begun to inspect the security measures at Terminal 2," the source elaborated. "Some of them will depart for Moscow today while others will carry on with their mission until Monday, February 6." The experts, accompanied by the airport’s senior officials, are currently inspecting the arrivals and departures halls at Terminal 2 as well as the personnel biometric access system, the screening machines, the video surveillance system and the baggage distribution system.
Russia had insisted that a biometric system is installed at Cairo Airport, the airport authorities had said that the installation would be completed by the end of January. During the past few days, a personnel fingerprints database was being compiled. According to the Egyptian media, the system was put into operation a few hours prior to the Russian experts’ arrival.
Before returning to Moscow, the Russian experts are expected hold a meeting with officials from Egypt’s Civil Aviation Ministry.
The Cairo airport check is expected to be the final one before a report on the security situation in Egypt’s airports is drawn up and a decision is made on resuming flights suspended after a Russian passenger plane’s crash over Sinai in October 2015.
In January, a group of Russian experts inspected airports in Egypt’s resort cities of Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh. At first, flights to Cairo are planned to be resumed, the resort cities will follow. Before that, Russia and Egypt are expected to sign an aviation safety agreement.