Russia Resumes Flights to Egyptian Resorts after 6 Years

Russia Resumes Flights to Egyptian Resorts after 6 Years

Russian tourists gather at the Egyptair check-in desk at the Domodedovo International Airport outside Moscow, Russia, Monday, Aug. 9, 2021. (AP)

Russia resumed flights to Egyptian resorts on the Red Sea on Monday, ending a ban that had lasted around six years following the bombing of a Russian airliner that killed all 224 people onboard.

Early on Monday morning, EgyptAir flight MS724 took off from Moscow with 300 tourists. Hours later, the Airbus A300-330 landed in Hurghada, a popular Red Sea destination, Egypt’s national carrier said in a statement.

The Russian plane was welcomed by a ceremonial “water salute” on touchdown and Russian tourists, most of them wearing facemasks, were greeted with flowers and balloons upon disembarking.

The statement said EgyptAir would operate seven flights from the Russian capital to Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh, on the tip of the Sinai Peninsula. The first EgyptAir flight from Moscow to Sharm El Sheikh was scheduled for Tuesday, it said.

The Russian state aviation agency, Rosaviatsiya, has cleared eight Russian airlines to operate flights to Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh from 43 cities across Russia. However, the list does not include St. Petersburg, the destination of the doomed Russian airliner downed over Sinai.

For now, Rossiya, a subsidiary