Britain's budget airline EasyJet will resume charter flights to the Egyptian Sharm El-Shiekh and Hurghada international airports in September, Egypt's civil aviation ministry announced on Monday. Egypt has reopened its main seaside resorts to international flights and foreign tourists on 1 July. Foreign tourists are now allowed to fly into three areas: South Sinai, where the popular seaside resort of Sharm El-Sheikh is located, the Red Sea governorate, home to the city of Hurghada, and Marsa Matrouh on the Mediterranean. The British company "has been certified to operate charter flights to Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada International Airports," said Asharf Noweir, head of the Civil Aviation Authority. Noweir added this "important" step demonstrates the return of air traffic with European countries after months of suspension due to the coronavirus crisis. Two weekly flights will be operated from Manchester to Sharm El-Sheikh airport on Sundays and Tuesdays and one weekly flight will be operated from Gatwick to Sharm El-Sheikh starting September. Hurghada airport will receive four weekly trips on Saturdays, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays as of 2 September, while two weekly trips will be operated from Manchester on Saturdays and Wednesdays. Some 415,000 Britons visited Egypt in 2018, according to British government estimates, making the UK one of the leading sources of tourists for the country. Egypt's tourism and antiquities minister Khaled El-Anany said as many as 50,000 tourists have visited Egypt's seaside cities of Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada since the country announced the resumption of regular international flights last month following a three-month closure due to the coronavirus pandemic.
