Following the crash, several western countries suspended flights to Sharm el-Sheikh, dealing a heavy blow to Egypt’s already-reeling tourism industry.
Advertisement
Linda, cultural partnerships and events strategy manager with Fife Council, said she had been really looking forward to her first two week break in over 20 years at the five-star Sensatori Resort overlooking the Red Sea.
“I’m not one of those people who goes on about conspiracy theories, but there are signs of one”, Major General Magdi Moussa, security chief in the southern Sinai Peninsula, told the Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al-Youm this week.
Britain stopped flights to Sharm al-Sheikh four days after the passenger plane crashed shortly after taking off on October 31 from the Red Sea resort, pointing to the likelihood that it was brought down by a bomb. 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.
Concerns were also raised about unlit corners of the airport that were hard to monitor and security guards playing on their phones instead of manning X-ray machines.
Besides, the Egyptian president discussed current security measures in Sharm El Sheikh airport’s with its management and staff members. There has been little mention of the incident on Egyptian state television.
Egypt has come under criticism over the investigation with sources saying there has been an “unacceptable” lack of transparency following the crash.
Special flights began on Friday, with United Kingdom foreign secretary Philip Hammond confirming 7,000 Britons had left by the end of Tuesday.
According to Alaa Youssef, spokesman for the presidency, Sisi inspected the airport’s security to ensure all procedures live up to “international standards” in an attempt to quell fears of lax security making attacks easier to carry out. “Travellers are advised that they do so at their own risk”.
“It seemed purely for show to display that they were doing something in front of someone from the Department for Transport”, Mr Weir said.
Even though the insurgency in northern Sinai has dissuaded many people from travelling to large parts of the country, Sharm El Sheikh has always enjoyed a steady flow of visitors because it was considered to be a safe haven.
The Islamic State group, which commands an affiliate in Sinai, claimed it downed the plane, killing all 224 people on board.
“The Bedouins depend on tourism to earning their living. If you make them suffer they could do anything”, the governor said.
Advertisement
He said the move to strengthen the pound would add further confusion about the fiscal policy in Egypt.
