A special flight operated by Air Cairo to bring stranded Egyptians back home from France amid the coronavirus pandemic landed in Egypt's Marsa Alam on Wednesday. The Red Sea resort city's airport received 142 repatriated Egyptian passengers from Paris. Upon their arrival, the passengers checked in at a hotel in Marsa Alam selected by authorities where they will spend 14 days in quarantine. The airport will also receive in the coming hours two flights operated by EgyptAir and Air Cairo from Johannesburg and the Maldives, respectively. On Tuesday, Marsa Alam's airport received an Air Cairo flight with 148 repatriated Egyptian passengers from Indonesia's Bali and Jakarta and Oman's Muscat, according to a civil aviation source The government is requiring returnees to sign before boarding their flights a written acknowledgement that they agree to be quarantined. The repatriated Egyptians will bear the cost of the hotel quarantine, estimated at a minimum of EGP 10,500 ($666.7), despite a previous decision by the state to cover the cost of the stay. Two special flights will be operated by Air Cairo on Friday to repatriate Egyptians from Ukraine's Kiev, according to Al-Ahram Arabic news website. Egypt began repatriating its citizens in March, bringing back hundreds of its nationals stranded in various countries due to the pandemic. The country is keeping its airspace open to inbound charter and special flights to transport outbound passengers, and to cargo and domestic flights, during the suspension of air traffic that has been in place since mid-March. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi stressed last week that Egypt is committed to repatriating an estimated 3,500 Egyptians stranded abroad at the earliest opportunity.
