MOSCOW/SHARM-EL-SHEIKH, August 9. /TASS/. Russia resumes flights to the resorts of Egypt - Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh - as well as to the Dominican Republic, Moldova, Bahrain from Monday, August 9. The relevant decision was earlier made by the operational headquarters for the fight against coronavirus.
Flights to Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh will be operated five times per week on each route.
Earlier, Russian Transport Minister Vitaly Savelyev told reporters that his ministry plans to increase the number of flights after the commission of Russian experts had made a positive decision on this matter.
On Friday, the airlines Aeroflot, Pobeda, S7, Smartavia, Nordstar, Ural Airlines, Azur Air, Nordwind and Royal Flight received permits to operate flights from Moscow and the Russian regions to Egyptian resorts. They will be able to use these permits if the authorities decide to increase the frequency of flights.
Egyptian air carriers have already announced plans to carry out flights between the resorts of the Arab Republic and Russia. On Sunday evening, EgyptAir announced the launch of seven new flights a week starting August 9, four to Hurghada and three to Sharm el-Sheikh.
Egyptian tourism industry was first affected by the internal political turmoil of the 2010s. After the explosion of a Russian passenger plane over Sinai in 2015, Russia suspended flights to Egypt. During the quarantine due to the pandemic, local tourism lost up to $1 billion a month.
However, this year, it was possible to reach a steady rise: in January the country was visited by 300,000 people, and by the end of April this figure had grown to 520,000, the local authorities stressed. Despite all the difficulties, Egypt hopes to restore the pre-crisis traffic of tourists, when more than 13 million Russians visited the republic in a year.
Air traffic between Russia and Egypt was suspended in 2015 after a Russian airliner crashed over the Sinai Peninsula, killing 224 people. One of the terrorist groups claimed responsibility for the disaster. In 2018, after strengthening security measures at the Cairo airport, flights from Russia to this city resumed. In April of this year, the presidents of the Russian Federation and Egypt agreed to restore flights between Russian cities and resorts on the Red Sea, Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh. Before that, the airports of Egyptian resorts were inspected by several delegations of Russian aviation security experts.
Dominican Republic, Bahrain and Moldova
From Monday, Russian airlines are also to operate two flights a week on the route Moscow - Manama (Bahrain), three flights a week on the routes Moscow-Punta Cana, Moscow-La Romana, Moscow-Puerto Plata (Dominican Republic) and three flights a week on the route Moscow - Chisinau (Moldova).
Earlier, Russia’s largest charter airline Azur Air announced the resumption of the flight program to the Dominican Republic; flights to La Romana airport are scheduled from Moscow with a frequency of three times a week, starting from August 9.
The leadership of the Dominican Republic has decided to cancel the curfew imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic in two regions, the local newspaper Hoy previously reported. From August 9, these restrictions will not apply in the capital of the republic, the city of Santo Domingo and in the province of La Altagracia in the east of the country. True, institutions can be filled only by 75%, and a number of outdoor activities with a large crowd of people must be coordinated with the Ministry of Health.
To date, Russia has resumed air traffic with 50 countries, in particular with France and the Czech Republic (from June 28). At the same time, the suspension of flights with Tanzania was extended until August 17 due to the epidemiological situation in the country.