Moscow’s Domodedovo airport said it had received a telegram from the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) banning EgyptAir flights to Russian territory from Saturday.
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Russia has banned incoming flights by Egypt’s state-owned airline, a senior Russian diplomat and an official of Moscow’s Domodedovo airport said on Friday, two weeks after a Russian jet crash in Sinai that Islamist militants claimed to have caused.
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.
He told AFP the ban, from Saturday, would continue pending a review by the Russians of an EgyptAir operational manual for which they had demanded a translation into Russian.
The chairman of EgyptAir, Fathi Sharif, said the company is “surprised” by the ” unjustifiable” decision and urged for a “quick reconsideration of the Russian decision, which is damaging the image of our company and the interests of passengers“. Moscow banned Russian airlines flying to Egypt after a possible terrorist downing of a passenger plane on October 31 which killed 224 Russian tourists and crew.
Kamal asked Russian Federation to provide Egypt with reasons as to why they suspended Egypt’s flights to Moscow.
But Russian Federation and Egypt said the statements were premature as the official crash probe has not concluded.
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Russia’s biggest airline Aeroflot is not planning to resume flights till March 27 next year at the earliest, according to the company.
