Egypt to increase financial support to airlines operating flights to resorts

Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism has approved a request made by a number of tour operators to increase the financial support provided to airlines operating charter flights to Luxor, Aswan, Marsa Matrouh, Taba, and Alamein.

Adela Ragab, Deputy Minister of Tourism, said in a press statement the increase would amount to approximately US $1000, bringing the total support to $3,000.

On the sidelines of the World Travel Market, a leading global event for the travel industry held annually in London, Raga met with officials from TUI Group, one of the largest multinational tourism companies, and requested that the company start operating flights to Sharm el-Sheikh, where it already owns a number of hotels.

Egypt has been battling to revive its hard-hit tourism sector after years of political turmoil following the 25 January uprising. The situation was exacerbated by the downing of a Russian passenger plane in October 2015, which killed all 224 passengers and crew on board.

Since then, various countries have placed travel bans on flights to Egyptian destinations and demanded security measures be implemented in Egyptian airports. Russia halted all flights to Egypt after the 2015 crash. Since then, Egypt has received several Russian experts who have inspected the security procedures at Egyptian airports.

Source: Al-Masry Al-Youm