Russian President Putin and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, President of Egypt discuss flights non stop from Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kazan, Ufa According to Hurghada or Sharm al-Sheikh. Such flights were stopped by Russia due to safety and security concerns and maybe resumed soon. Russians visitors need a visa for Cairo, but not for traveling to resort cities in Sinai.
The Egyptian Embassy in Russia, the resumption of direct air connections between Russia and Egypt’s resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Hurghada, will be the topic of discussion between Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Russian President Putin during this year’s Russia-Africa Summit that will take place in Sochi, Russia on October 23 and 24.
A Russian diplomatic source confirmed off the record that this issue would be resolved shortly, and air traffic could be restored in the very near future. According to him, now the relevant departments of both countries are hammering out the details of the future agreement.
Egyptian diplomatic mission has also noted that they were very optimistic about the negotiations between the two leaders and that there was great hope that flights would be resumed after their meeting.
“We are very optimistic about the upcoming talks between the two leaders. The latest review committee confirmed that everything in Egypt was going well. This offers hope that during the meeting a positive decision will be made on this issue. On the Egyptian side, all conditions have been met,” the embassy emphasized.
Vice President of the Russian Union of Travel Industry said that once the top-level decision is made, it would take only about a month to completely restore air routes from Russian cities. “Another question is that tourist plans for the autumn-winter period are already set in place. But I think this will not be a big problem, planes will be re-routed, demand for Egypt is still there, and it is high,” he said.
