Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency said four airlines applied this month to operate flights between Russia and Egypt, Russian news agency Tass said on Wednesday. Moscow grounded all civilian passenger flights to Egypt last year over security concerns after a Russian A321 airbus crashed in Sinai shortly after taking off from Sharm El-Sheikh. Russia and Egypt have since been in talks to resume air traffic. The Russian carriers which applied are Yamal, Azur air, Pegas Fly and Nordwind Airlines. They plan to run flights mainly from Moscow to the Red Sea resort cities of Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada, but have requested to fly from other Russian cities including St. Petersburg, Kazan and Ufa. An interdepartmental commission of Russia's Transport Ministry has yet to approve the requests, the regulator said, adding that the decision will be made through voting. According to the agency, airlines IrAero and Pegas Fly also applied in September to resume flights to Egypt, but have not received a final say from the commission. All 224 people on board were killed in the October 2015 crash. Moscow has sent teams to inspect new security measures at Egyptian airports in preparation for the resumption of flights. Earlier this month, Russian Transport Minister Maksim Sokolov said Egyptian authorities were making headway in resolving Russia's concerns over the safety of flights to Egypt. A day earlier, Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said that he hoped air travel with Egypt would resume by the end of this year.
