Egypt, Russia resume flights halted after 2015 plane bombing

CAIRO — Egypt and Russia have resumed direct flights more than two years after they were suspended in the wake of a bombing that brought down a Russian passenger plane over the Sinai Peninsula.

Egypt’s flagship airline EgyptAir said a Moscow-bound flight took off from Cairo on Thursday, and that it will operate three such flights a week. An Aeroflot flight from Moscow arrived in Cairo early Thursday.

Direct flights between Russia and Egypt’s popular Red Sea resorts have yet to resume.

Moscow suspended flights after the 2015 attack claimed by the Islamic State terror group, in which an A321 plane belonging to Russian charter company Metrojet crashed into the Sinai desert on its way from the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg, killing 224 passengers and crew.

Egypt has worked to boost airport security since then, hoping to resume the flights in order to bolster its vital tourism sector which was decimated by the attack.