MOSCOW, June 24. /TASS/. Russia and Egypt are negotiating on security issues for the resumption of charter flights between the countries, Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov told reporters on Thursday.
He added that the preparation of a decree of the President of the Russian Federation on the abolition of restrictions is underway.
Manturov also expressed hope that negotiations between the parties on the supply of SSJ and MC-21 aircraft will intensify after the resumption of charter flights to Egyptian resorts.
"Today, there is a process of completing technical issues, preparing the approval of the decree, which is required so as directly the President can adopt this document. So, I think that our colleagues from the Ministry of Transport, from the relevant services that deal with aviation security issues, will soon finalize it with the Egyptian colleagues and we will be able to start resumption of these flights directly to the resorts of Egypt," he said.
In April the official representative of the office of the head of the Egyptian state, Bassam Rada announced that the presidents of Russia and Egypt, Vladimir Putin and Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, agreed on the full resumption of flights between the two countries.
Air traffic between Russia and Egypt was completely interrupted in November 2015 after the crash on the Sinai plane of the Russian company "Kogalymavia", flying from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg. On board there were 217 passengers and seven crew members, all of whom were killed. The FSB qualified the incident as a terrorist attack. In January 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the resumption of regular air traffic to Cairo. The first flight from Moscow took place four months later, in April. Until now, charter flights with Egyptian resort areas remain closed. Over the past years, the Egyptian side has improved the system of inspection, control and inspection of passengers and baggage, as well as significantly modernized the infrastructure of the airports.