CAIRO, April 20. /TASS/. Russian aviation safety experts completed another inspection of airports in the Egyptian resort towns of Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada on Friday, a source in aviation circles familiar with the matter told TASS.
A delegation of Russian experts arrived in Cairo late last week for inspections in those two resort areas.
"They completed inspections on Friday," he said, adding that it unclear yet whether additional visits will be necessary.
On April 6, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said following the talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov that the country is investing efforts to ensure security at domestic airports, trying to learn from Russia’s experience. "We welcome Russian delegations within the framework of technical cooperation for resuming direct flights to resorts and pledge to do our best to ensure security, so that Russian tourists can come for holidays to the Egyptian resorts again," he said.
All flights between the two countries were cancelled in November 2015 after the explosion of Russia’s A320 jet over the Sinai Peninsula on October 31, less than half an hour after takeoff from Sharm el-Sheikh international airport. The terrorist attack claimed the lives of all 217 passengers and seven crewmembers. Russia demanded a considerable tightening of security measures at Egyptian airports as a precondition for the resumption of flights.
In mid-December 2017, Russia and Egypt signed an agreement on aviation security and a special protocol on restoring air service between the two countries. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the decree on resumption of scheduled flights to Cairo on January 4, 2018. The first flight was performed on April 11. Charter flights from Russia to Egyptian resort cities of Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada are still closed.