Egypt Anticipates Russia to End Travel Ban

Egypt hopes its tourist sector will do better in 2017 after a disappointing 2016, but the sector needs an influx of Russian tourists for a noticeable boost. Russia suspended flights to and from Egypt in October 2015 after an Airbus A321 plane flying to St. Petersburg crashed in the Sinai Peninsula soon after taking off from Sharm el-Sheikh, killing all 224 people aboard. The Egyptian authorities have said repeatedly that everything possible had been done and continued to be done to ensure the utmost security and safety at Egypt airports, Sputnik News reported. "We are now proud that the security measures at our airports are stricter than at a number of busy airports of European cities," Mahmoud Qatt, an expert at the Accident Investigation Department at the Ministry of Civil Aviation, told RIA Novosti. A group of Russian experts visited Cairo International Airport in late December to check up on security measures and new equipment were installed in the second terminal of the airport. Russia's Aeroflot is expected to start flying there after the travel ban is lifted. No date has been announced yet.