Amid Fallout of Sinai Plane Crash, Egypt Looks as Unstable as Ever

“For the success of the Moscow-backed initiative of settlement in Syria, Egypt’s participation is vital”, he said. “It was full until a few days ago but the Russians have gone”, a tourist told the British network. The national carrier now operates eight flights a week to Sharm el-Sheikh, four from Riyadh and four from Jeddah. Speaking on a visit to Finland, he said it would be impossible to radically revise Egypt’s security system in a short time, according to Russian news reports.

Muqaddam said his team, comprising experts from Egypt, Russia, France, Germany and Ireland, has yet to be presented with conclusive evidence suggesting the Airbus A321, which crashed 23 minutes after taking off from Sharm el-Sheikh global Airport, was downed by a bomb. Russians have accounted for about a third of all Egypt’s tourists in recent years.

But the spokesman said that no formal agreement had been struck between Egyptian authorities and the United States for the NTSB to participate officially in Egypt’s investigation of the crash of Metrojet flight 9268, and that no such agreement is imminent.

Egyptian officials have blamed the crash on a technical malfunction and warned against jumping to premature conclusions.

Russian tourists sunbathe and stand in the shallow waters at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh.

Ayman al-Muqaddam, head of the team investigating Egypt’s worst air disaster, was more cautious Sunday, saying, “We don’t know what happened exactly”.

Egypt is one of the most popular destinations for Russians, especially in the winter when the sun and clear seas lure them away from gray, frigid weather.

All 224 people onboard a Russian charter jet were killed when it came down over the north of the rugged Sinai peninsula on 31 October.

The restrictions, which were denounced by the Egyptian government, have dealt a severe blow to Egypt’s tourism industry, a main revenue earner. Militants from the self-proclaimed Islamic State in Sinai, which claims it brought down the plane with a bomb, are suspected of getting an explosive device on board at the airport, with evidence pointing to an inside job. The ban will last “for several months, as a minimum”, Ivanov said, according to the Associated Press.

“We had obviously booked our time off work, packed all our cases, booked the vehicle into the airport auto park and made all the arrangements and it was not until Friday that it said on the website that we would not be flying out”, she said.