British Government lifts 4-year flight ban to Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh

The British Government on Tuesday has decided to end a four-year suspension of flights to Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh. The British embassy in Cairo said in an official statement that the announcement follows their aviation security experts’ close cooperation with their Egyptian counterparts. British Ambassador to Egypt Geoffrey Adams said in a statement that they will work together with any airlines who desire to resume their flight services. He said that the decision was taken after the cooperation between security experts from both the countries. 

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Egypt welcomed the move

British Minister for the Middle East and North Africa, Andrew Murrison, speaking on the decision said that the UK has cleared that flights to Sharm el-Sheikh should resume as soon as the security situation allows. He said that he is pleased that they can now announce the lifting of present restrictions. Egypt, in an official statement, welcomed the move and said that the step is a testament to the efforts by Egypt to look after the safety and security of every passenger. Egypt had put a lot of effort to attract tourists by promoting their archaeological finds and boosting security at airports. There was a major impact on tourism in Egypt as most of its tourist came from Russia. The industry is now recovering as compared to the past few years with tourist as many as .2 million in 2017 and 11.3 million in 2018 entering the country.

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Ban came into action after the attack on Russia's airlines

Britain has prompted against everything except basic travel via air to and from the Egyptian Sharm el-Sheik. The flight suspension was followed by the bombing of Russian airlines which was claimed by the Islamic State group. The deadly attack killed 224 people who were on board including the tourists and crew members. Since the attack, Russia advised halting all flights to Egypt for several years and some more countries to stop flight operations to Sharm el-Sheikh. This decision was welcomed by the Egyptian civil aviation ministry as they said that it is an indicator of the trustful relationship between the two nations. 

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(With inputs from agencies)