All Thomson Sharm Flights To Return By Monday

The fallout from the likely bombing of a Russian passenger jet, which exploded above the Sinai Peninsula late last month, has crippled Egypt’s long-suffering tourism industry, with Russia banning all flights to Egypt for the next several months-peak tourism season for Russians. Russian observers believe that if the accident was really a terrorist act, its perpetrators may have been trying to attack not only Russia, but also the Egyptian leadership.

“The lights will not be going out in Sharm al-Sheikh”, Sisi told reporters in the Red Sea resort.

Russian officials say they haven’t determined whether a bomb brought down the plane as it flew from Sharm al-Sheikh toward St. Petersburg. The minister said that he planned a $5 million public relations campaign to promote Egypt in Britain and Russian Federation as part of an attempt to counter the negative reputation of the country after the crash.

EasyJet said on its website that all delayed passengers would be home by the end of next weekend while Monarch said the last Sharm flight would depart next Tuesday. Two-thirds of tourists to Sharm el-Sheikh, where the plane that crashed originated, come from Russian Federation and Egypt, and the tourist destination accounts for about one-third of the country’s total tourism proceeds.

The Egyptian economy has been hammered by four years of political turmoil since a popular uprising unseated autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

Eastern European visitors, including people from former Soviet satellite states like Ukraine, made up a crucial 45 percent of all tourist arrivals in June, according to Egyptian government statistics.

The Islamic State militant group’s Sinai branch claimed responsibility, but has not explained how it carried out the attack.

Both the USA and the United Kingdom governments, however, have not ruled out terrorism as a possible cause. “We will have nothing but a few Ukrainians and Belarusians”, he said by telephone.

It isn’t clear how the NTSB’s role will evolve in coming days or weeks, and Mr. Weiss said senior safety board officials so far were focused on simply responding to queries from Egyptian crash investigators.

Since the Russian suspension of flights to Egypt was announced Friday, dozens of airliners have been bringing Russian tourists back home, carrying only cabin baggage, while Russian cargo planes were hauling the rest of their luggage.