Moscow’s Domodedovo airport authorities told AFP that they had received a telegram from the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) banning Egypt Air’s flights to Russian territory from November 14.
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The Metrojet Airbus A321 was bringing holidaymakers home from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Along the streets of Sharm El-Sheikh, visitors spotted were mostly Egyptians, in addition to dozens of foreign tourists.
The Islamic State group which commands an affiliate in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula claimed it destroyed the plane, without providing details.
The Egyptian government’s reluctance to recognize that the crash could have been a terrorist attack makes the government appear to have an agenda other than simply uncovering the truth in its investigation, said Daniel Wagner, who heads U.S.-based security consulting firm Country Risk Solutions. “But we will feel safer if we left”, they said. The plane’s black box recordings are being sent to an unnamed country to be inspected.
The aviation agency didn’t give any immediate reason for the ban on flights, and Egypt’s aviation authorities said they haven’t been notified officially of this decision.
“I wish no one had rushed ahead of the results of the investigation”, he said on Egyptian television.
The restrictions have dealt a severe blow to Egypt’s tourism industry, a main revenue earner, and have been denounced by the Egyptian government which has said the cause of the incident has yet to be determined.
A government spokeswoman said: “UK aviation security officials engage regularly with a number of overseas partners including Egypt”. “We always felt like it is their city”, he said.
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“Our country runs on tourism”, he said.
