Russian authorities demand to stiffen security at Egyptian airports

To guarantee safety of Russian tourists in Egypt, FATA demands that Egyptian airports monitor movements of their staff around the airfield (Photo by Sharm-el-Sheikh Airport)

Egypt’s Minister of Civil Aviation Sherif Fati told Daily News Egypt about the demands put forward by Russian aviation authorities regarding stiffening security measures at Egyptian airports. According to Fati, Russian aviation authorities required that Egyptian airports be equipped with surveillance cameras to monitor the movements of airport staff around the airfield. Additional biometric control measures should be introduced to monitor all staff entering and exiting restricted areas.

Egypt “has already started to work on this requirement,” the official said. He however denied speculations that special lounges are being organized at airports dedicated specifically to handling Russian passengers. This may be done only if sufficient traffic from Russia is in place, Fati noted.

A delegation of Russian authorities is scheduled to visit Egypt once again at the end of August to discuss further stiffening of security measures at Egyptian airports. This would be the third visit in the last two months aimed at inspecting tourist facilities at Sharm-el-Sheikh and Hurgada. The meeting were also dedicated to monitoring the investigation of Metorjet’s crash over Sinai peninsula last October. An act of terrorism was declared as the cause of the crash, which was followed by suspension of sir service between Egypt and Russia.

According to Fati, air connection with Russia may be resumed as early as October. His Russian pier, Russia’s Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov announced that approvals for flights to Egypt will be issued for each airport separately.