12th of April. On the eve of the representatives of the airline "Aeroflot" and the airline EgyptAir announced the resumption of flights between Russia and Egypt. If the resumption of flights between Moscow and Cairo will pass without excesses, the Russian side will consider the issue of resuming direct flights to the tourist cities of Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada.
Departure of the first Airbus A320 aircraft took place from Sheremetyevo Airport (Terminal F) on April 11 at 20:50 local time, arriving in Cairo - April 12 at 00:25 local time. 120 tickets have been booked for the flight. The return flight SU0401 will depart from Cairo on April 12 at 01:25 and arrive in Sheremetyevo at 06:50 Moscow time. All flights will be performed from the second terminal of Cairo Airport, which was specially equipped for flights from Russia.
"The opening of this direction is a significant event for Russian air carriers," Forbes quotes the words of the leading researcher at the Institute of Transport Economics and Transport Policy of the Higher School of Economics Fyodor Borisov. - This is due to the fact that very few people plan to rest in Egypt in the summer, the peak of flights in this direction will have a low season (autumn and spring). At this time, airlines are faced with underload capacity, so flights to Egypt can be an effective solution to the problem. "
However, the general director of the consulting firm Infomost, Boris Rybak, is of a different opinion. "The resumption of flights to Egypt will not be a great breakthrough. For the past three years since the termination of flights, the operators have worked different directions. This is Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and partly Spain, from distant destinations - Cuba. In my opinion, Cairo is not the most successful point of arrival, the city is far from popular tourist places. Therefore, this does not affect the existing balance. ".
Chairman of the Committee on Transport of the Association of Tour Operators in the field of outbound tourism "Tourist Information" Dmitry Gorin believes that tourists from Russia to Egypt can become much more in connection with the start of Aeroflot flights to Cairo. Most of them will be independent travelers.
"According to our estimates, with the beginning of Aeroflot flights to Cairo on April 11, Egypt will visit about 7-10 thousand tourists every month. Customers of travel companies that have already begun to sell tickets, among them will also be, but there will be a few, mostly speaking about independent tourists. Even when Egypt was officially closed, at the resorts there were about 3 - 5 thousand independent tourists. They flew to the resorts connecting flights via Riga, Istanbul and Minsk. Now there will be an unequivocal growth, "- quotes the Moscow Military News Agency as saying Dmitry Gorin.
According to the expert, while it is not clear how much tourist traffic will be given by connecting flights through Cairo, but the desire of tourists to rest in Egypt will definitely affect the message about the official lifting of the ban on regular flights to Cairo and the beginning of flights by the airline Aeroflot. However, the cost of such a holiday, subject to self-booking rooms in hotels, remains quite high. According to experts from Turpomosti, the cost of recreation in Egypt at the moment is about $ 1,000 - 1,500 for a 7-day trip for two, which is associated with high prices for air tickets.
At the same time, before the introduction of restrictions on flights to Egypt, at resorts in Egypt rested about 200 - 300 thousand Russians.
Recall, flights between countries were interrupted in November 2015 due to the crash of the airline Kogalymavia, flying the flight Sharm el-Sheikh - St. Petersburg. The improvised explosive device worked in the tail part of the plane. This terrible plane crash killed 217 passengers and 7 crew members. After this event, Moscow demanded that Cairo strengthen security measures at the airports of Egypt.
The decree on the resumption of flights was signed by President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin on January 4, 2018.
