Russian flights to return to Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada for first time since 2015

The Egyptian Aviation Authority announced that starting March 28, the Russian NordStar Airline will operate four flights a week to Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada.

The authority specified that the trips will include two flights to Hurghada and two flights to Sharm el-Sheikh, depending on the approval of Russian authorities.

The authority’s head Ashraf Noyair announced that the Russian company had applied to the authority to operate the flights at the end of March. He added the amount of flights would increase as soon as the regular operation of flights resumes.

Noyair pointed out that a Russian delegation of 17 security inspectors from the Russian Transport Ministry recently praised the security measures followed at Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada airports, after conducting an inspection that lasted for seven days.

The Russian authorities had reinstated EgyptAir and Aeroflot flights last year between Moscow and Cairo only, on the condition that Russian passengers did not go to Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh by plane and travel to the Red Sea cities by land only.

NordStar is the first Russian tourism company that will travel to the two cities since 2015. Flights to the cities were halted that year after a Russian passenger plane crashed above Sinai.