EgyptAir announced the return of its flight MS729 of the A220-300 heading to Moscow due to a threatening message from an unknown source.
A company statement said the message was found on one of the plane’s seats.
The flight returned after about 22 minutes from taking off from Cairo Airport.
The statement confirmed that the passengers arrived safely at Cairo Airport, and the necessary measures are being taken.
It did not clarify the content of the threat message.
Flights between Russia and Egypt had been fully suspended in November 2015 after a passenger plane operated by Russia’s Kogalymavia airline traveling from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg exploded over the Sinai Peninsula, killing all 217 passengers and seven crewmembers on board.
The Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) qualified the incident as a terror attack.
In January 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an executive order to resume regular flights to Cairo but charter flights to Egyptian resorts remained suspended.
Over the past few years, Egypt has dramatically improved its system of checks for passengers and luggage, and tremendously improved its airport infrastructure.
On July 8, Putin struck down the order signed in 2015 which banned flights to Egypt’s resorts operated by Russian airlines.
