British Airways to resume Cairo flights on July 26 – Egyptian official

British Airways (BA) will resume flights to Cairo on July 26, said Sameh El Hefny, president of the Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority, on Sunday.

British Airways (BA) has on Saturday abruptly suspended flights to the Egyptian capital over security concerns, without giving further details but saying the move was as a precaution to “allow for further assessment.” Later on Saturday, Germany’s Lufthansa said it had cancelled services from Munich and Frankfurt to Cairo for one day as it resumed flights on Sunday.

BA and Lufthansa have reviewed the security measures and decided to resume their flights to Cairo, Hefny said in an interview at a local TV channel on Sunday evening.

The British Foreign Office said on Saturday flights departing Egypt for the UK were undergoing “additional security measures,” and urged passengers to “cooperate fully with security officials at airports.”

“There is a heightened risk of terrorism against aviation,” Britain’s Foreign Office said in a travel advisory to British nationals heading to Egypt.

It later updated its travel advisory on Saturday to add a reference to the British Airways suspension, advising travellers affected to contact the airline.

Egyptian Minister of Aviation Younis Al-Masry on Sunday expressed his dismay over British Airways’ decision to the UK’s ambassador to Cairo Geoffrey Adams.

Al-Masry said BA’s decision had been unilaterally taken without referring to the competent Egyptian authorities.

A statement by the Ministry of Civil Aviation said Adams had apologised for not informing Egyptian authorities before the decision was made and cited him as saying the flight suspension was not related to the security measures at Egyptian airports.