Russia plans to lift coronavirus-related restrictions on flights from its airports to the Egypt's Red Sea resorts of Sharm al-Sheikh and Hurghada starting November 9, TASS news agency reported on Thursday. The decision includes regular and charter flights, the official told TASS cited a representative of the federal coronavirus prevention headquarters as saying. It also involves lifting restrictions on air traffic with the UAE, Austria, Switzerland, and Finland. It was decided "to lift restrictions on regular and charter flights from Russian airports, from which international flights have been resumed, to destinations in Egypt – the cities of Hurghada and Sharm al-Sheikh," the official noted. The decision comes three months after Moscow canceled the 2015 decree banning Russian airlines from flying to the two Egyptian Red Sea cities, ending six years of suspension after a deadly Russian plane crash in Sinai that resulted in the death of all 224 passengers and crew on board. In April 2018, direct flights between Moscow and Cairo were resumed. However, the suspension related to the two Red Sea resort cities of Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh remained pending. Later in July this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin finally made a decision to lift a ban on flights to the two cities. "From August 9, the number of flights to Europe will be increased, with Moscow-Hurghada and Moscow-Sharm el-Sheikh flights adding up to five flights per week for every route," the Russian anti-coronavirus crisis centre noted in an earlier statement on July 23.
