Egypt’s Hurghada airport to receive first Russian flight Monday after five-year suspension

Egypt’s Hurghada International Airport is expected to receive on Monday its first direct flight from the Russian capital of Moscow in more than five years.

The flight will have 500 Russian passengers on board, to become the first of five weekly flights from the Russian capital to the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Hurghada.

Russia suspended flights to Egypt a few days after a Russian plane crashed over Sinai Peninsula in late October 2015, killing all 224 passengers and crew on board.

In April 2018, direct flights between Moscow and Cairo were resumed, but the suspension related to the two Red Sea resort cities remained pending until Russian President Vladimir Putin made a decision last July to lift a ban on flights to the two cities.

“From August 9, the number of flights to Europe will be increased, with Moscow-Hurghada and Moscow-Sharm el-Sheikh flights adding up to five flights per week for every route,” the Russian anti-coronavirus crisis centre said in an earlier statement on July 23.