After six years of suspension, Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced the resumption of charter flight airlines to Egyptian resorts.
The flights were suspended for national security reasons in the aftermath of the explosion of MetroJet plane taking Russian holidaymakers back from Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg over the Sinai Peninsula in October 2015, killing 224 people.
President Putin issued a 2015 decree banning Russian charter flights to Red Sea resorts in Egypt.
According to a document on the Government information website, President Vladimir Putin canceled his order suspending the flights.
Russian officials declared the disaster a terrorist bombing. They claimed that security procedures in Egyptian airports were insufficient at the time.
Russian flights to Cairo resumed in 2018 but remained banned to the resort areas of Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh.
Russia’s flight suspension to Red Sea resorts has taken a heavy toll on Egypt’s tourism industry, a key source of hard currency since Russian visitors were the top nationality to Egypt, numbering about 3 million in 2014.
Since then, Egyptian authorities have upgraded all safety and security measures at all of the country’s airports.
