Egypt Welcomes UK Decision To Resume Flights To Sharm El-Sheikh Airport- Aviation Ministry

Egypt applauds the decision by the UK government to resume flights to and from the resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh after a four-year pause following the terrorist attack on Russia's passenger plane in 2015, Egypt's Civil Aviation Ministry said on Tuesday

CAIRO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd October, 2019) Egypt applauds the decision by the UK government to resume flights to and from the resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh after a four-year pause following the terrorist attack on Russia's passenger plane in 2015, Egypt's Civil Aviation Ministry said on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, the UK government lifted the restrictions imposed on flights to Egypt's popular tourist destination of Sharm el-Sheikh since 2015.

"The [Egyptian] Civil Aviation Ministry welcomes the decision of the UK government to resume flights to Sharm el-Sheikh airport. [The decision] indicates the strong relations and trust between Egypt and the United Kingdom," the ministry said in a statement.

According to the statement, the ministry hopes that "this step will be the beginning of a new phase, and it will increase the number of UK tourist flights to all Egyptian airports."

The lifted ban was imposed due to a terror attack that was carried out by the Islamic State terrorist group (outlawed in Russia) on Russia's passenger air charter in October 2015, killing all 224 people on board. The plane's crash was caused by an explosive device, as was later concluded by Russian investigators.