Ural Airlines stop flights over Sinai Peninsula following A321 crash

The Ural Airlines air carrier has adjusted its flight routes to Sharm el-Sheikh, the company’s press service told TASS on Monday. "All flights are carried out in circumvention of the Sinai Peninsula in connection with the requirements of the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation," the company’s spokesman said. The company carries out flights to Sharm el-Sheikh from St.Petersburg, Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Ufa, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod and Perm. Air France and Lufthansa earlier decided to avoid flying over the Sinai Peninsula as a precautionary measure. Meanwhile, a representative of Russia’s Aeroflot air carrier said its planes did not fly over the Sinai Peninsula. An A321 passenger jet of Russia’s Kogalymavia air carrier (flight 9268) bound to St. Petersburg crashed on October 31 some 30 minutes after the takeoff from Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh. It fell down 100 kilometers south of the administrative center of North Sinai Governorate, the city of Al-Arish. The plane was carrying 217 passengers and seven crew members. There were four Ukrainians and one Belarusian national among the passengers. None of them survived. According to the Russian Federal Migration Service, among the victims are residents of 13 regions of Russia.