Russian flag-carrier Aeroflot is to restore services to the Egyptian capital Cairo, more than two years after the suspension of flights over security concerns.
Aeroflot says it will resume the route on 11 April.
It will operate thrice-weekly from Moscow Sheremetyevo, as flight SU400, using Airbus A320s.
Aeroflot intends to increase the frequency to daily over the period from 12 June to 2 July, owing to increased demand linked to the World Cup football tournament in Russia.
The airline suspended its Cairo flights towards the end of 2015, shortly after the loss of a Russian-operated Airbus departing Sharm el-Sheikh.
While the investigation has yet to conclude, the Russian government – among others – believes the aircraft was brought down over Sinai by sabotage.
This led the Russian government to order a cessation of all flights to Egypt while the airport security situation was assessed and addressed.
"To restore flights a significant increase in security measures was required," says Aeroflot.
The Russian government had outlined the flight restrictions in a decree of 8 November 2015 focused on national security measures to protect citizens from criminal actions.
But earlier this year it published a declaration, signed on 2 January, stating that it was amending the decree to ease the limitations on air services to Egypt.
Russia's federal air transport regulators, Rosaviatsia, had also met with the Egyptian ambassador at the beginning of March to discuss resumption of Moscow-Cairo flights.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
