Russian tourists canceling tour packages including Kogalymavia flights

In the wake Saturday morning’s crash of the Russian A321 jet in the Sinai Peninsula en route from Sharm al-Sheikh to St Petersburg, customers of Russian tour companies have been trying to cancel package tours that includes flights by the jets of the Kogalymavia airline, Maya Lomidze, the executive director of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia told TASS. "There’ve been requests for annulling the tours or changing the airline," she said. "They are not singular but I wouldn’t call them massive either." She admitted that the tour operators were getting many calls with requests to replace Kogalymavia with a different airline. In spite of the tragedy, though, Egypt remains in high demand with the Russian customers as a holiday making destination, Lomidze said. "No decisions on these requests have been taken so far, as Saturday is a day off for most tour operators, unlike the travel agencies where most calls have been made from," she said. Earlier on the same day, Russia’s Investigations Committee said it was doing a search in the offices of Brisko tour company, which acted as a consolidator of the misfortunate chartered flight. An Airbus A321 jet belonging to the Kogalymavia airline crashed in the mountains in the central part of the Sinai Peninsula on Saturday morning about 30 minutes after takeoff from Sharm al-Sheikh, some 100 km away from the city of Aris. According to the Egyptian authorities, all the 217 passengers and seven crewmembers died.