The chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Federation Council of the Russian Parliament, Konstantin Kosachev, is expected to decide soon to resume flights to Egyptian resorts, the Russian news agency Sputnik reported.
The Moscow-Cairo flights have been resumed, Kosachev said.
Other routes are expected to be fully resumed soon, he added.
Russian flights to Egypt were suspended following the downing of a Russian aircraft in Sinai on its way from Sharm El-Sheikh to St. Petersburg on October 31, 2015.
The incident claimed the lives of all 224 passengers and crew-members onboard. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) later designated the incident as a terrorist attack.
Russian tourists held the lion’s share of tourism in Red Sea pearls Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada, until the decision to suspend flights.
On April 11, Russia’s largest airliner Aeroflot resumed flights to Cairo.
Tourism revenues make up 11.5 percent of the total GDP of Egypt, according to the Ministry of Tourism, and it is estimated the suspension cost Egypt’s tourism industry $4 million per day.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
