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Russian flights to Egypt are suspended until further notice

Russian airlines will take passengers from the airports of Egypt through regular and irregular schedules. Thomas Cook Airlines, easyJet, privately-held Monarch, British Airways and Thomson operate direct flights between Britain and Sharm al-Sheikh. About 20,000 British tourists are believed to be in the area.

According to the analysts of ATOR, about 70,000 Russians are at Egyptian resorts at the moment. Most of them are staying at the resorts of Hurghada and Sharm-El-Sheikh. Tourists, who are currently staying in Egypt, will be able to complete their holidays and return to Russia at the scheduled date. The decision was made at the meeting of the operational headquarters under the Government of the Russian Federation in the evening, on the 6th of November. Since November 6 tourists will not be able to fly to Egypt.

The participants of the meeting emphasize that it is a planned transportation of tourists, who are currently staying in Egypt, and not an evacuation. However, for security reasons, it was decided that the luggage of the tourists will be transported separately, tourists will be able to take only hand luggage onboard.

The information for tourists regarding returning to Russia will be provided by phone via “a hot line” of the Ministry of Emergency Situations: for calls in Russia 8-800-100-40-61, for calls from other countries +7-499-995-57-26.

The Federal Air Transport Agency has published an official statement “Regarding the flights to the Arab Republic of Egypt”. It is emphasized in the message that Russian airlines will take passengers from the airports of Egypt through regular and irregular schedules. Information regarding the flight status – time, date, and airlines would be provided to the attention of the tourists staying in Egypt via all possible means of communication.

Moreover, the Federal Air Transport Agency warned about the fact that the transportation of passengers and their luggage from the airports of Egypt will be organized via separate flights. Tourists will be allowed to take onboard as hand luggage the most necessary personal belongings including baby food and essential medicines only.

The tour operators which tours were bought by the tourists that are already currently staying on holiday in Egypt and by the tourists that have purchased tours on future dates, reported on plans for the transportation of tourists and the alternatives for tours to Egypt. As an alternative, various tour operators offer tours to Cyprus, tours to Turkey or tour cancellation without penalty fee and with full refund of the tour price.

According to the Executive Director of ATOR Maya Lomidze, “It can be any destinations for which fast enough booking is possible. For example, the UAE or Thailand”. Tourists can also exchange their tours to Egypt for such destinations as India and possibly Sri-Lanka. However, almost all options will require extra payments from tourists, adds Maya Lomidze.

“There are many unique advantages of Egypt that no other country possesses. In this regard, if the cause of the crash will be considered a terrorist attack, there will be serious impact on the tourism business. Because, firstly, Egypt is a year round destination, secondly, Egypt is the cheapest foreign holiday destination, and, thirdly, for the money that the tourists pay for their stay in Egypt, they will not get the services and the quality of the vacation for which they go there in any other country,” the expert highlights. Apart form that, Maya Lomidze also stressed that Russian tourists have changed the approach to their own safety over the years. “Safety for our tourists is not the number of car accidents in the country, but military action, natural disasters, i.e. hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, and of course, terrorist acts. It should be noted that the alertness of our tourists, I would say, more responsible approach to themselves and to their safety, is increasing over the years”.

British airliners on standby for stranded tourists in Egypt
According to Reuters, eleven empty British airliners are on standby in Cyprus and might be used to fly home thousands of tourists stranded in Egypt’s Sharm al-Sheikh, airport authorities in the Mediterranean island said on Saturday.

Britain halted flights to and from the Red Sea resort after a Russian plane crashed over the Sinai Peninsula on Oct. 31 with the loss of 224 lives. Western officials think a bomb likely brought the airliner down.

Some flights resumed on Friday to bring home tourists stuck in the resort, where about 20,000 Britons were on holiday, but the operation descended into chaos when Egypt cut the number of flights it would allow to fly them out.

An airport official in Cyprus said it was not yet clear what role Cypriot airports might play in efforts to fetch the stranded holidaymakers, but added that almost a dozen British commercial aircraft were at the island’s two airports.

Eight commercial aircraft from Luton, Gatwick and Stansted in London stayed overnight in Larnaca, while three from Manchester and Birmingham landed empty at the western Paphos airport after being diverted from Sharm al-Sheikh, Aspris said.

Only eight of the 29 flights scheduled to fly Britons home left Sharm al-Sheikh on Friday because Egypt said Britain’s insistence that passengers returned with only hand luggage meant the airport was unable to cope.

Turkish Airlines also canceled flights to Sharm al-Sheikh in Egypt on Friday and Saturday nights over security concerns, after a Russian airliner which took off from there crashed on Saturday. The flag-carrier dispatched a security team to Sharm al-Sheikh airport to assess security procedures earlier on Friday.

Nadejda Popova, Senior Travel Analyst, Euromonitor International comments: “The recent events come as a catastrophic development for the industry in Egypt. 2014 was a good year for the country where inbound flows rose by 8% to reach 10.2 million arrivals in 2014, up from 9.5 million in 2013. Egypt began to invest in a widespread campaign to lure back Egyptian expatriates and nationals living abroad, as well as boosting domestic tourism, mainly using social media. This was a smart strategy. It also introduced interesting packages and offers to GCC and MENA residents and was doing well with re-boosting tourism to its seaside resorts such as Sharm el Sheikh, which until now was a very resilient in terms of tourism. Moreover tourists continued to go there (ie. Sharm el Sheikh) as they dissociated this part of Egypt from the unrest elsewhere. The decision of the UK is going to have a very serious impact on the local economy and of course on tourism as the only pockets of safety in the country in terms of tourism are now compromised. Travellers will remain very hesitant to travel to this part of the Middle East and will continue to choose destinations like Dubai, Oman, and maybe even Morocco as opposed to more vulnerable destinations like Tunisia and Egypt. UK is the second biggest source market for Egypt with 1 million arrivals in terms on trips to the country in 2014 after Russia which recorded in 2014 nearly 3 million arrivals.  This of course makes the decision of the UK even more detrimental for the Egyptian tourism industry and those employed and working in the travel segment there.  Although Egypt is one of the countries in the region which quickly bounces back from different crises looking at some of the historic years, I do believe that the recent events will slow down the ambitions of the local government to achieve the target of 20 million foreign tourist arrivals by 2020.”

Euromonitor International data show that:

  • Despite the decline of-18%  in 2012-2013, arrivals to Egypt increased by 8% in 2013-2014
  • With almost 3 million arrivals, Russia was the largest inbound market in 2014, followed by the UK with 1 million arrivals in 2014
  • Russia was also the fastest growing source market for Egypt in 2014, registering a 18% growth in 2013-2014.
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Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.

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