Egypt's state-owned carrier EgyptAir said it has operated on Wednesday its first flight to the resort town of Taba in Sinai. The flagship airline operated a new Airbus A320Neo from Cairo to Taba and back, with 200 passengers on board. EgyptAir has signed a contract with a tour operator to send two weekly flights to Taba to transport tourist groups during August and September, which is part of efforts to promote domestic tourism to counter the economic impact of the coronavirus (Covid-19). Civil Aviation Minister Mohamed Manar described the step as a strong and promising start for the gradual return of tourist air travel to its rates before the virus outbreak. This came after the minister inspected Taba International Airport ahead of the start of air travel at the airport. Egypt began a gradual resumption of regular international flights starting 1 July, after it had shut its airspace in March due to the pandemic.
