On January 4, 2018 Rosturism announced about cancelation of restrictions for tour operators to sell tours to Egypt via Cairo. "President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on January 2, 2018 "On Certain Measures to Ensure the National Security of the Russian Federation and Protect Its Citizens from Criminal and Other Wrongdoing Actions". The document came into force on the day of its signing. In this regard tour operators can create a tourist product in Egypt on the basis of regular air communication with Cairo", - said the report of the ministry on its website.

“The agreement on the resumption of air communication with Egypt does not mean the automatic restoration of sales of tours to Egypt”, - said the Adviser to the Head of Rosturism Svetlana Sergeeva. "The Russian Ministry of Transport and Egyptian authorities signed an agreement on aviation security, this does not mean that flight communication with Egypt will be automatically opened. Until the appearance of an appropriate presidential decree on the resumption of air communication between our countries, it is premature to talk about this", - she underlined.

“Russia and Egypt have conformed a draft of the protocol on cooperation in the field of ensuring the safety of civil aviation”, - said the Head of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation Maxim Sokolov. "Egyptian side simply did not specify the date, place and the time for signing this agreement. At present time all the issues are conformed", - the Minister said in response to journalists' question.

“The Russian Transport Ministry has sent proposals to the government on opening regular flights to Cairo”, - told the Head of the Ministry Maxim Sokolov. However, he added that the opening of flights between Moscow and the capital of Egypt is "the question of the nearest future". Earlier, the Minister of Transport stated that the resumption of air links with Egypt will begin with the opening of regular flights between Moscow and Cairo.

According to the executive director of ATOR Maya Lomidze, two factors are preventing to make correct prediction on the New Year destinations. The first is sustained position of Egypt, which obtained in previous years not less than 50% of the winter tourist flow. And the second - a continuing trend of “last minute” bookings, due to which the actual picture will become clear only in the beginning of December.

“The decision of the resumption of air links with Egypt will be concluded after the Egyptian side will complete all the work in the field of the implementation of a comprehensive security plan”, - said the Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov. We are actively cooperating now with the Egyptian side in implementing a comprehensive security plan concerning the three largest airports in Egypt.

“The Egyptian authorities have to remove shortcomings, which were identified by Russian experts in the airport security of the local airports, in order to launch the flights between the two countries in winter”, - said the source familiar with the situation. "At Cairo, Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada airports a number of serious shortcomings of aviation safety is still not removed.

Following the results of the year the Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada will show the lowest level of occupancy for the last few years period due to the lack of Russian tourists - according to the data of "Journal of ATOR", which is referring to the report of the company Colliers International.

Egypt's national carrier Egypt Air airline has requested the Russian aviation authorities the time slots to perform weekly flights for the autumn-winter period. The head of Egypt Air Safuat Muslim He told reporters. "We sent the request to Russia about providing three flights a week, starting from October 30. In case of resumption of air links between Russia and Egypt, the company is ready to launch flights on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

The Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich expects that air traffic with Egypt will resume before the end of this year. Answering the question about a possibility that air traffic will be opened before the end of 2016, he said: - "I hope. At least the Cairo airport - there is a better situation.

“The security checks at the airports in Egypt revealed again a number of shortcomings, the resumption of air links with Russia before the end of the year is unlikely”, - said "Interfax" a source, which is familiar with the situation, on Monday. "For the last time at the Cairo airport a lot of various tests and checks were conducted in the framework of conforming it to all high Russian safety requirements.

The head of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation Maxim Sokolov has not confirmed the fact that flights between Russia and Egypt can be resumed in October.

“Russian tourists are already interested in the possible tours to Egypt, but the prices after the opening direction can be quite high”, - told tourism industry experts to the portal "Interfax-Tourism". "Every day several dozen customers call us with a question, when Egypt will be opened.

According to “Al-Masri al-Yawm" newspaper, which is citing a source in the Ministry of Civil Aviation of Egypt – the air traffic between Egypt and Russia may be resumed in October, The traffic recovery will take place in several stages: at first the flights between Moscow and Cairo will be launched, and then – the regular flights between Moscow and Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada are planned to be restored.

Russian and Egyptian ministers of transport is expected to have a meeting in Egypt next week, an official at the Russian Transport Ministry told TASS on Thursday. "A meeting of the Russian Transport Minister with the Egyptian Minister of Civil Aviation may happen next week in Egypt," the official said.

Egyptian Minister of Civil Aviation Sherif Fathi head a high-ranking delegation of his country’s officials on a visit to Moscow on Wednesday for talks with Russia on the restoration of regular flights between the two countries, suspended last year over security issues, according to the Egyptian ministry.

Russia plans to send another team of inspectors to Egypt in the near future, Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov said on Wednesday. "We will come with another inspection soon, we are working on this with the colleagues from Egypt," Sokolov said speaking on a possible resumption of flights to Egypt. Moscow and Cairo have been negotiating the resumption of air flights to the country since late 2015.

The Egyptian side is ready to provide to Russians a separate terminal at Cairo International Airport, if the influx of tourists from Russia reaches significant levels, press attache of the Egyptian Embassy to Russia Ayman Mousa said on the Rossiya 24 TV channel on Friday. "Egypt will soon open a new terminal," he said.

Russia’s Transport Ministry may raise before the country’s leadership the issue of phased opening of a number of Egyptian airports, and Cairo airport may be the first, Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov told reporters on Tuesday on the sidelines of the Territory of Meanings forum. "Theoretically, the issue may be raised before the country’s leadership concerning the phased opening of a number of airports of Egypt for organizing regular and charter flights.

Egypt intends to revive tourism with Russia and proving that point local residents in tourist areas are lining up to learn Russian, Egypt’s parliament speaker, Ali Abdel Aal, said on Wednesday. "We would like to revive our relations in the tourist sphere," Abdel Aal told Valentina Matvienko, speaker of Russian Federation Council, or upper house of Russia’s parliament.

Speaker of Egypt’s parliament, Ali Abdel Aal, said at a meeting with Russian lawmakers that his country has implemented 75% of its liabilities concerning security guarantees to Russian tourists, a Russian lawmaker said on Tuesday. "The speaker said they have implemented 75% of liabilities under our recommendations [on guaranteeing security for Russian tourists]," Sergei Gavrilov, the chairman of the property committee of the Russia State Duma lower parliament house, said after the meeting.

Egypt plans to purchase Russian planes only after the tourist flow to the country recovers, the Trade and Industry Minister Tarek Kabil told TASS at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2016) on Friday. "In my understanding the answer is yes," he said when asked whether Egypt plans to buy more Russian planes.

"Currently we have adjusted all our security measures at airports, and we have ensured the safety now is more than 99%. We did all, that was possible to do. We need to, starting tomorrow, airplanes and tourists back to Egypt", — said Mohamed El-Keshky, answering the Agency's question about flights between Russia and Egypt. "Everywhere everything is alright: Sharm El-Sheikh is safe, Egypt is safe. We need to support each other in tourism industry", he concluded.

Tickets for the flight Cairo - Moscow - Cairo starting from from November 12, 2016 can be bought on EgyptAir airline's website. Airport of arrival is named Domodedovo. Flight from Cairo to Moscow and back, according to the site, will cost 28.5 thousand rubles (about 430 US dollars).

The next visit of the Russian experts to Sharm el-Sheikh airport on air safety issues will take place in the coming week, Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov told representatives of the United Russia faction in the State Duma (lower house of the Russian parliament). "In April, even in the coming week, we will send specialists to Sharm el-Sheikh airport which will hold another round of talks and dialogue with our Egyptian partners to address the issue of our justified safety demands at the airports where our tourists fly," he said.