MOSCOW, July 19. /TASS/. Russia’s aviation agency, Rosaviation, has denied requests of airlines to issue documentation necessary to conduct flights to Egypt’s largest seaside resorts, Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh, the agency’s order reads.

Overall, more than 230 applications were filed particularly by Azur Air, Rossiya, Ural Airlines, S7 and Nordwind.

On April 23, Russian Vladimir Putin and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi agreed to relaunch air travel between Russian cities and Red Sea resorts. In early May, Moscow’s envoy to Cairo Georgy Borisenko said that aviation authorities and security agencies should complete all the necessary measures to resume flights. However, he noted that the timeline to resume air travel would largely depend on the developments linked to the coronavirus pandemic.

Flights between Russia and Egypt had been fully suspended in November 2015 after a passenger plane operated by Russia’s Kogalymavia airline travelling from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg exploded over the Sinai Peninsula, killing all 217 passengers and seven crewmembers on board. The FSB qualified the incident as a terror attack.

In January 2018, Putin signed an executive order to resume regular flights to Cairo but charter flights to Egyptian resorts were still suspended. Over the past few years, the Egyptian side has dramatically improved its system of checks for passengers and luggage, and tremendously improved its airport infrastructure. On July 8, Putin struck down the order signed in 2015, which banned flights to Egypt’s resorts operated by Russian airlines.