Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich expressed hope for the resumption of flights between Egypt and Russia by the end of this year at a press conference on Thursday. "I hope so. At least, the situation in the airport of Cairo has improved," Dvorkovich replied when asked if the flights between Russia and Egypt would resume this year. The deputy prime minister also said that the Egyptian side still had a number of security systems to install, which they had ordered and were waiting to receive. Dvorkovich added that "it would be hard to say if they [Egyptian side] can do it this month or not" when asked if the air travel could resume this October. Russia grounded flights to and from Egypt after an Airbus A321 plane flying to St. Petersburg crashed soon after taking off from Sharm El-Sheikh on October 31, 2015. All 224 people aboard died as a result of what was classified by the Russian investigation as a terrorist attack. In September, Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov said that Egypt had significantly advanced airport safety levels in resort cities since the deadly plane crash, but noted that it was too early to restore air traffic between the countries. *This story was edited by Ahram Online
