Regular air service to Egypt will resume on Wednesday evening. Aeroflot will launch its first flight to Cairo from Sheremetyevo Airport at 8:50 PM. Flights will operate weekly on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays.
From June 12 to July 2, flight frequency The flight between the capitals of Russia and Egypt will be increased to daily. This is due to the increased demand for air travel during the football tournament.
According to media reports, approximately 120 tickets have been booked for the inaugural flight. In total, approximately 4,000 tickets from Moscow to Cairo have been sold by the end of the summer flight season.
As Biletix's press service told TRN, demand for direct flights to Cairo is quite low.
"Demand is measured in a couple dozen search queries. There's no talk of a recovery in demand or Cairo's popularity as a tourist destination," the company notes.
According to the service, the average roundtrip flight to Cairo with transfers last March was 25,306 rubles. Direct flights now start at 28,857 rubles, an increase of 14%.
OneTwoTrip notes that despite the availability of Aeroflot and Egypt Air flights, Russians continue to use other airlines offering connections in third countries. Specifically, nearly 501,000 tickets to Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada are on Turkish Airlines and Pegasus flights via Istanbul.
"Of course, the opening of direct flights to Cairo will boost interest in the country. However, mass tourism from Russia to Egypt can only become possible after the resumption of charter flights, which, in our opinion, will allow Egypt to quickly regain its position in our market," he says. Arkady Gines, Director of Development at OneTwoTrip.
It was previously reported that security measures at Cairo Airport must be completed before air travel to Egyptian resorts can resume.
"We plan to resume air service to Cairo on April 11 with an Aeroflot flight. On April 12, Egypt Air will operate its first flight to Moscow. A dedicated Russian aviation security team will be stationed in Cairo to assist their Egyptian colleagues in ensuring safety. We need to practice our security skills before we consider flights to resort destinations like Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada," he said. Head of the Federal Air Transport Agency Alexander Neradko.
Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that Russia will continue to work to resume air service to Egyptian resorts.
As a reminder, flights between Russia and Egypt were suspended following the terrorist attack on board a Kogalymavia airline plane that crashed over the Sinai Peninsula on October 31, 2015.
Source: trn-news.ru
