A delegation from the Russian Ministry of Transportation inspected on Tuesday security measures at Cairo International Airport one last time before the arrival of the first direct flight from Moscow to Cairo since Russia suspended commercial flights between the two countries in late 2015, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported. Security sources at the airport told Al-Ahram that the delegation, accompanied by representatives from the Russian embassy in Cairo, inspected security procedures at the arrival and departure halls in Terminal 2, which will receive inbound and outbound Cairo-Moscow flights. The sources added that the delegation inspected security procedures for goods and passengers, starting from when passengers first enter the airport to take-off. The first flight (Aeroflot SU400) will take off from Russia's Sheremetyveo International Airport on Wednesday at 10:50pm Moscow local time, and is expected to arrive on Thursday at 12:25am Cairo local time. The direct flight will be the first by the Russian national airline to Cairo International Airport since a Russian Airbus A321 crashed in October 2015 shortly after taking off from Sharm El-Sheikh, killing all 224 people on board. Egypt has since boosted security procedures at many of its airports in response to Russian security conditions for lifting the flight ban. The Russian flight ban, which was implemented shortly after the crash, struck a blow to Egypt's tourism industry. Russia has traditionally been the largest exporter of tourism to Egypt, contributing about a fifth of foreign vacationers to the country as of 2015, according to official data. In December, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a decree to resume commercial air traffic between the two countries' capitals. A round of talks between the two countries is set for later this month to discuss resuming charter flights from Russia to the Red Sea resort cities of Hurghada and Sharm El-Sheikh. Starting Thursday, Egypt's flagship airline EgyptAir is set to resume Cairo-Moscow flights with a flight to Moscow that will depart at 9:30am CET from Cairo International Airport's Terminal 2. EgyptAir will be flying three weekly flights to the Russian capital. In March, EgyptAir said it would offer a 50 percent discount on business class seats on Thursday's flight, as well as a 35 percent discount on economy seats.
