Egypt's Sharm Welcomes First UK Flights since 2015 Plane Crash
Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh has welcomed the first
British charter flights since the 2015 Russian airliner crash.
Britain halted flights to Sharm el-Sheikh following
the incident, which killed all 224 people on board the plane that took off from
the resort, long popular with British tourists.
After multiple airport inspections and visits by
aviation security experts, Britain announced in October that it was lifting the
flight restrictions.
"Sharm el-Sheikh airport received the first two
direct charter flights... from London's Gatwick airport carrying 184 passengers
and Manchester airport carrying 190 passengers," Egypt's civil aviation
ministry said in a statement late Sunday.
The flights were operated by Britain's biggest
travel agency, TUI.
The company has scheduled three flights a week
between London's Gatwick Airport and Sharm el-Sheikh until late March, the statement
said, according to AFP.
British budget airline easyJet said in January it
would restart flights to the resort town in June.
On Sunday, flag carrier EgyptAir said it would start
operating a weekly flight between London and Sharm el-Sheikh later this month.
British tourists have long been vital to the tourism
industry in Sharm el-Sheikh, which was left reeling after the crash.
Russia, another major source of tourists to Egypt,
initially suspended all direct flights to the North African country following
the incident.
It resumed direct flights to Cairo in 2018 but has
yet to restart them to popular Red Sea resorts.
