Putin is flying to Egypt. Will the direct message be resumed for the rest of the Russians

Russia and Egypt will strive to resume charter flights to popular Egyptian resorts in the near future. This was stated by Russian President Vladimir Putin at a press conference following talks with the Egyptian President.

Details are in the material of the ATOR Bulletin.

“We discussed the issue of full-format air traffic and tourist exchanges. In April, direct flights on the Moscow - Cairo route were resumed. We discussed the issue of resuming charter flights to popular tourist destinations among Russians - Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh. We noted that our Egyptian friends are doing everything necessary to improve security. We will strive to resume charter flights on these routes in the near future, ”said Vladimir Putin.

According to ATOR sources, regular inspections of Egyptian airports have already been included in the schedule of the RF Ministry of Transport. This was confirmed today by the Russian media and the head of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation Yevgeny Dietrich. According to him, Russia and Egypt agreed to send Russian experts to this Middle Eastern country to check security issues related to the problem of resuming direct flights to the resorts of Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh. However, he refrained from answering the question when such a group would be able to travel to Egypt.

According to Egyptian media reports, Russian experts are ready to be received in Hurghada and Sharm. This was stated by sources in the Ministry of Aviation of Egypt. In total, over the past three years since the suspension of air traffic, the Russian Federation has conducted 12 checks of the ARE air harbors in Egypt. At the same time, the ARE Ministry of Aviation insists that "Egypt has complied with all the requests of the Russian side to improve security measures and is ready to receive Russian experts at the time when they deem it possible."

According to ATOR, a number of Russian carriers are authorized to fly to Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada. When the restriction on charters to Egypt is lifted, airlines can announce the setting of programs at resorts 15 days after their agreement with the Federal Air Transport Agency. According to experts, in the winter season, about 600 imported charter flights per month can be delivered to Egyptian destinations. This is over 30% of the approximate volume of charters that are already planned for the coming winter (about 2000 flights per month).

In 2017, 94 thousand Russians visited Egypt, who came to the country on their own. The maximum for the Russian market in terms of volumes turned out to be 2014: then in Egypt, according to Rosstat, 2.6 million Russians rested. When restoring charters to Egypt, the Country of Pyramids can count on 2.5-3 million Russian tourists a year. There are no alternatives to Egypt in the segment of budget vacations, especially in the low season.

ATOR experts say that in case of obtaining permission for direct charter communication with the Red Sea resorts in Egypt, the tourist flow will gain strength within a month.

New US sanctions over the Skripal poisoning could affect Russia's largest airline Aeroflot. In fact, this means that by the beginning of winter, Russia and the United States may be left without direct flights for the first time in the past 30 years. What will this mean for the company itself and for the passengers?

The US State Department announced on the evening of August 8 that Washington is preparing new sanctions against Russia in connection with the "Skripal case".

As part of the first wave of measures, which will take effect on August 22, the United States will ban the issuance of licenses for the export to Russia of goods related to national security.

The second wave of sanctions suggests the possibility of depriving any airline that is controlled by the Russian government to land in the US.

Aeroflot falls under this description - it is 51.2% owned by the state, another 3.5% is controlled by the state corporation Rostec. She is the only one flying directly from Russia to the United States.

This will happen if Russia, three months after the introduction of the first wave of sanctions, does not provide guarantees that it will no longer produce and use chemical weapons.

Against the background of news about possible sanctions after the opening of the Moscow Stock Exchange, Aeroflot was among the leaders in the fall. For some time the share price of the airline dropped to the level of the beginning of 2008, although by the end of the day the company's shares had partially won back the fall.

Profitable or not?

Aeroflot declined to comment. Flights to the USA is a profitable direction for this company, says Oleg Panteleev, head of the AviaPort analytical service.

But as a result, the volume of round-trip ticket sales from Russia to the United States in the first 7 months of 2018 decreased by almost a quarter compared to the same period last year, data from the Biletix service show.

“Only Aeroflot can be competitive in this market. He has enough carrying capacity and a strong sales network, including in the States. This allowed him to consistently squeeze American carriers out of the Russian direction, because Aeroflot was more competitive, "Panteleev notes.

In March 2018, for example, the American company Delta left the direction between Russia and the United States. For American carriers, domestic flights are more profitable than overseas flights to Russia, the expert notes.

how « Aeroflot « has it been about politics before?

• In March 2018, an Aeroflot plane that flew from Moscow to London was searched by the British customs service. The Russian Foreign Ministry and the company itself said that the British authorities did not name the reasons for the search and carried out the search without releasing the ship's captain from the cockpit. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova called the search a provocation, which was required by the British authorities in order to "save their reputation, which was thoroughly damaged in connection with the Skripal case."
• In 2014, Dobrolet, a low-cost subsidiary of Aeroflot, after 2 months of operation, came under EU sanctions for flights to Crimea. Contractors, including the German Lufthansa Technik, refused to work with the company. As a result, Aeroflot liquidated« daughter« ... The new low-cost airline received a different name - "Pobeda" and a new operator certificate.
• In 2003, Aeroflot was forced to temporarily change the routes of its flights over Canada and reduce the number of flights to Toronto.The conflict erupted due to the fact thatairlinei Air Canadaasked free fly from Toronto to Delhi over Russian territorybut she was refused... As a result, the Canadian government imposed restrictions on aircraft transit flights« Aeroflot« .
• In December 1981, Aeroflot was banned from flying in US airspace after the introductionfromsoviet troops to Afghanistan. September 1983-of the year, after that how Soviet air defense systems shot down a Boeing 747 of the South Korean airline Korean Air Lines, air traffic between Russia and the United States was virtually blocked. Later, the blockade was lifted, but until 1986 the offices of Aeroflot in New York and Washington were closed and contacts of American airlines with Aeroflot were prohibited.

If they do cancel

A senior State Department official told Reuters that Washington's planned sanctions against Russia will not directly affect Aeroflot, but could theoretically apply to US-exported goods purchased by the Russian airline.

Flight bans may be imposed on Aeroflot at the second stage of sanctions if Moscow does not comply with Washington's conditions, in particular, does not allow international inspections.

According to Panteleev, prices for flights to the United States will rise, but not significantly, since the choice of flights with connecting is very large. According to Biletix, more than 95% of air tickets sold in this system in the United States are now on connecting flights. At the same time, after transferring at European airports, Russian passengers most often fly to the United States on flights of foreign airlines.

According to Panteleev, if Aeroflot is de facto banned from flying to the United States, Russia's retaliatory measures may turn out to be very harsh - as one of the options, the agreements under which American carriers use routes over Russian territory may be revised.

Difficulties associated with the distribution of the "Arctic" routes have arisen before. In May, the US Department of Transportation ordered three Russian airlines to provide information on future flights to the United States in order to verify that flights comply with US law. The US authorities called this a response to the actions of Russia, which did not provide American cargo carriers with a corridor to cross its airspace.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on August 9 that retaliatory measures would be worked out "based on the actions that the American side will take."

“There will be measures - we will make decisions based on what American legislators and political lobbyists will come up with this time,” Zakharova said. - Everything is very simple. The [USA] will not invent anything - we will not do anything, if they come up with it - we will answer, if they come up with something extra - we will respond in the same spirit. Nobody canceled the rules of the game ”.

According to Panteleev, the Russian aviation authorities in any case will not allow American airlines to replace Aeroflot on direct flights.

Image copyright Sergei Bobylev / TASS / Getty Images

New US sanctions over the Skripal poisoning may affect Russia's largest airline Aeroflot. In fact, this means that by the beginning of winter, Russia and the United States may be left without direct flights for the first time in the past 30 years. What will this mean for the company itself and for the passengers?

The US State Department announced on the evening of August 8 that Washington is preparing new sanctions against Russia in connection with the "Skripal affair".

• Are the new "draconian sanctions" dangerous for Russia and why would Trump need them?
• "They teach history poorly." Russian politicians and officials appreciate the new US sanctions
• Russian media: ban on Aeroflot flights to the USA is madness

As part of the first wave of measures, which will take effect on August 22, the United States will ban the issuance of licenses for the export to Russia of goods related to national security.

The second wave of sanctions suggests the possibility of depriving any airline that is controlled by the Russian government to land in the US.

Aeroflot fits this description - it is 51.2% owned by the state, another 3.5% is controlled by the state corporation Rostec. She is the only one flying directly from Russia to the United States.

This will happen if Russia, three months after the introduction of the first wave of sanctions, does not provide guarantees that it will no longer produce and use chemical weapons.

Against the backdrop of news about possible sanctions after the opening of the Moscow Exchange, Aeroflot was among the leaders in the fall. For some time the share price of the airline dropped to the level of the beginning of 2008, although by the end of the day the company's shares had partially won back the fall.

Profitable or not?

Aeroflot declined to comment. Flights to the USA is a profitable direction for this company, says Oleg Panteleev, head of the AviaPort analytical service.

But as a result, the volume of round-trip ticket sales from Russia to the United States in the first 7 months of 2018 decreased by almost a quarter compared to the same period last year, data from the Biletix service show.

“Only Aeroflot can be competitive in this market. It has enough carrying capacity and a strong sales network, including in the United States. This allowed it to consistently squeeze American carriers out of the Russian direction, because Aeroflot was more competitive , "- notes Panteleev.

In March 2018, for example, the American company Delta left the direction between Russia and the United States. For American carriers, domestic flights are more profitable than overseas flights to Russia, the expert notes.

how " " has it been about politics before?

• In March 2018, an Aeroflot plane that flew from Moscow to London was searched by the British customs service. The Russian Foreign Ministry and the company itself said that the British authorities did not name the reasons for the search and carried out the search without releasing the ship's captain from the cockpit. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova called the search a provocation, which was required by the British authorities in order to "save their reputation, which was thoroughly damaged in connection with the Skripals case."
• In 2014, the low-cost subsidiary of Aeroflot, Dobrolet, after 2 months of operation, came under EU sanctions due to flights to Crimea. Contractors, including the German Lufthansa Technik, refused to work with the company. As a result, Aeroflot liquidated" daughter" ... The new low-cost airline received a different name - "Pobeda" and a new operator certificate.
• In 2003, Aeroflot was forced to temporarily change the routes of its flights over Canada and reduce the number of flights to Toronto.The conflict erupted due to the fact thatairlinei Air Canada asked free fly from Toronto to Delhi over Russian territorybut she was refused... As a result, the Canadian government imposed restrictions on aircraft transit flights" " .
• In December 1981, Aeroflot was banned from flying in US airspace after the introductionfromsoviet troops to Afghanistan. September 1983-of the year, after that how Soviet air defense systems shot down a Boeing 747 of the South Korean airline Korean Air Lines, air traffic between Russia and the United States was virtually blocked. Later, the blockade was lifted, but until 1986 the offices of Aeroflot in New York and Washington were closed and contacts of American airlines with Aeroflot were prohibited.

If they do cancel

A senior State Department official told Reuters that Washington's planned sanctions against Russia will not directly affect Aeroflot, but could theoretically apply to US-exported goods purchased by the Russian airline.

Flight bans may be imposed on Aeroflot at the second stage of sanctions, if Moscow does not comply with Washington's conditions, in particular, does not allow international inspections.

According to Panteleev, prices for flights to the United States will rise, but not significantly, since the choice of flights with connecting is very large. According to Biletix, more than 95% of air tickets sold in this system in the United States are now on connecting flights. At the same time, after transferring at European airports, Russian passengers most often fly to the United States on flights of foreign airlines.

According to Panteleev, if Aeroflot is de facto banned from flying to the United States, Russia's retaliatory measures may turn out to be very harsh - as one of the options, the agreements under which American carriers use routes over Russian territory may be revised.

Difficulties associated with the distribution of "Arctic" routes have arisen before. In May, the US Department of Transportation ordered three Russian airlines to provide information on future flights to the United States in order to verify that flights comply with US law. The US authorities called this a response to the actions of Russia, which did not provide American cargo carriers with a corridor to cross its airspace.

• US requires Russian airlines to report flights

Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova said on August 9 that retaliatory measures would be worked out "based on the actions that the American side will take."

“There will be measures - we will make decisions based on what American legislators and political lobbyists will come up with this time,” Zakharova said. “It's very simple. - something extra - we will answer in the same spirit. Nobody canceled the rules of the game. "

According to Panteleev, the Russian aviation authorities in any case will not allow American airlines to replace Aeroflot on direct flights.

The resumption of flights between Russia and Egypt is again postponed. On Tuesday, Egyptian media, citing the head of EgyptAir, Safuat Muslim, reported that the flights of the Egyptian carrier from Cairo to Moscow will begin no earlier than April.

"Flights to Moscow will begin in April, if there is no special need to organize flights in March, which requires a special reservation procedure," Al-Ahram quoted him as saying.

Russia interrupted flights with Egypt in the fall of 2015 after a terrorist attack over the Sinai crashed a plane of the Russian airline Kogalymavia, flying from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg. 217 Russian tourists and seven crew members were killed. Russia has put forward a demand for Egypt to strengthen aviation security measures.

An agreement on the resumption of flights between Cairo and Moscow was reached at the end of last year during a visit to Cairo by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Later, the heads of the relevant departments signed a corresponding agreement in Moscow.

The head of the Ministry of Transport, Maxim Sokolov, noted earlier that so far it is only about air traffic between the capitals, flights will be carried out by Aeroflot and EgyptAir, and regular flights will begin in February.

The date of issuance of the final permit from the Federal Air Transport Agency was even named - February 20.

However, the timing of the first flights has not yet been set, and ticket sales are not open.

"The Ministry of Transport calls on all departments involved in the process to speed up the process of resuming flights," the department told Gazeta.Ru.

They also said that all political decisions on the resumption of flights between Moscow and Cairo had been made, and all technical issues had been settled.

According to the schedule, EgyptAir plans to make three flights between Moscow and Cairo per week. For this, exits and check-in desks have already been booked at the Domodedovo airport. The company itself announced that it plans to start flights as early as February 1.

Representatives of the Russian air carrier also announced plans for February. Aeroflot CEO Vitaly Savelyev told reporters in mid-January that flights to Cairo could be launched at the end of February.

On Tuesday, the airline's press service told Gazeta.Ru that the company is not going to make any statements about the timing of the resumption of flights to the Egyptian capital.

The Federal Air Transport Agency also refrained from commenting.

Is it impossible or is it possible?

Meanwhile, for tour operators, the situation with the opening of Egypt creates more inconveniences than opportunities. And first of all, because today not all market players fully understand whether Cairo will become the final destination for the flight (then it will take 5-8 hours to get to Hurghada or Sharm el-Sheikh by bus), or it will be possible to include connecting flights to resort areas.

The Russian Union of Travel Industry sent a request to Rosturizm about the legality of the formation of tours not only to Cairo, but also through it to other distances, the vice-president of the union Yuri Barzykin told Gazeta.Ru.

“We wanted to get an official answer, because in the legal order everything is interpreted differently,” he said.

The head of Rostourism Oleg Safonov on the sidelines of the Russian Investment Forum in Sochi told Gazeta.Ru that this issue is not being discussed with representatives of the market.

“Tour operators independently form the tourist product. Rostourism has never interfered in their production activities and is not going to do so. We proceed from the premise that you need to carefully read the presidential decree, everything is written there. The decree says that air transportation is to Cairo, ”the head of the department said.

The document cited by the official is a "prohibitive" presidential decree, issued after the disaster over Sinai in November 2015, and which was amended in January this year in connection with the permission of flights to the Egyptian capital.

The decree recommends tour operators and travel agents for the duration of the flight ban "to refrain from selling to citizens a tourist product that provides for air transportation (including commercial) of citizens from the territory of the Russian Federation to the territory of the Arab Republic of Egypt, with the exception of Cairo."

At the same time, neither the presidential decree nor the law has a restriction that would not allow tourists who arrived in Cairo to get to other cities by local airlines, says Vadim Ipatov, a lawyer at Glazunov and Semenov.

The Federal Agency for Tourism previously noted that there is no ban on tour operators from forming tickets to any cities of the Arab Republic of Egypt, except for Cairo.

The Red Sea hasn't gotten closer

Tourists do not even manage to find out the dates of the possible start of booking tours to Egypt. The call centers of all major tour operators report that there are currently no sales.

Thus, in the Coral Travel company, the Gazeta.Ru correspondent was advised that “the direction is closed today”. Intourist noted that there is no information yet about the possibility of starting booking tours.

As TUI told Gazeta.Ru, tour operators are ready to form tours to Egypt through Cairo, but since Russians are most in demand for trips to the Red Sea coast, in addition to safety in air traffic, a prerequisite for the start of sales of tours to Egypt is to ensure the safety of travel within the country ...

Tez Tour also plans to form tours based on direct destinations to the capital of Egypt. A tour operator can only sell tours with a flight "Moscow-Cairo-Moscow", then we are talking about a transfer, explained the PR director of the Russian tour operator Larisa Akhanova.

While there are no flights even to Cairo, Russians travel to Egypt through third countries. The cost of a round-trip flight from Moscow to Cairo in February 2018 starts from 20 thousand rubles, Arkady Guines, director of development for OneTwoTrip service, cites the figures.

According to the Biletrix service, the early sales of air tickets in January-February from Russia to Egyptian resorts in the summer season of 2018 increased 4 times, but the volume does not exceed 0.1% of all sales in international directions.

The average cost of a flight from Moscow to Cairo, Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh increased from 20,573 rubles to 28,591 rubles, that is, by 38%.

At the same time, direct flights to Egypt have not yet appeared in the Biletix system. According to Guinness, flights between Cairo, Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh are operated by three Egyptian airlines, and their services will cost travelers another 6,000-8,000 rubles.

Thus, the current cost of the flight is at least $ 500. Direct flights will be cheaper, experts say.

The deputy head of the Union of Tourism Chambers of Egypt, Mostafa Khelil, said in an interview with RIA Novosti that the cost of a ticket to Egyptian resorts, taking into account the flight Moscow - Cairo, will start at $ 650.

Barzykin believes that as a result, the cost of the ticket may be higher, and the risks are increased. Meanwhile, the Russians are waiting for a budgetary Egypt, and not at the prices at which it will be sold with a transfer from Cairo, he summarizes.

The resumption of flights to Egypt - the latest news for today.

According to Elhami al-Zayat, the ex-head of the tourist chamber in Egypt, from 2018, the number of Russian tourists in Egyptian resorts should increase to 1,000,000.

Egypt has fulfilled all the conditions of the Russian authorities so that charters from Moscow to this country would soon be open. By the end of the month, charters should be restored to two cities - Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh.

By the end of 2018, charters to Egypt from Moscow should be fully open. According to Aeroflot, three flights during the week fly to Egypt today - on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.

Recall that on October 17, 2018, a regular meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Egyptian President Abdul-Fattah Khalil al-Sisi took place in Sochi, at which specific ways of resuming friendly relations between our countries were discussed.

Therefore, now many Russian airlines express a positive opinion about the work done by the Egyptian authorities, who were modernizing their airports to ensure the safety of tourists, including Russian ones.

At all airports in the resort cities of Egypt, improvements have been made to equipment that can detect explosives. The video surveillance system has been improved, as well as the pre-flight screening procedure. For these purposes, the responsible departments of Egypt have allocated about ten million dollars.

This was precisely the requirement of the Russian authorities, who repeatedly carried out checks at the airports of the resort cities of Egypt.

According to the statement of the former deputy head of the Central Bank of Egypt, and now the Minister of Tourism of Egypt, Rania Mashat, Egypt has already done everything possible to return the flow of tourists, which was several years ago. Now the resort is in great demand among residents of Ukraine, Eastern Europe and Germany. Last year, many tourists flew in from China. Based on this, we can conclude that the tourism industry is gradually returning to normal, informs the portal rosregistr.ru

WHEN ARE CHARTERS AVAILABLE IN EGYPT

Some time ago, it was said that Egypt would be open to Russians this fall. But in the end, this will not happen until March-April 2019.

According to the majority of Russian tour operators, in December 2018, air traffic will be restored for flights of Russians to Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh. But then it will take another couple of months for the Rostourism to develop new tourist programs for residents of all regions of Russia.

“We believe that this will happen in the spring of 2019, because air communication with Cairo has already been established,” said the executive director of the Association of Russian Travel Agencies (ATOR).

“Purely theoretically, even if tomorrow suddenly Egypt is declared open, it is impossible to quickly draw up charter programs and find the necessary number of aircraft to launch the necessary volume of traffic there,” confirmed Maxim Puzankov, president of the Ural Tourism Association.

LATEST NEWS ABOUT THE OPENING OF AIR CONNECTIONS WITH THE RESORT CITIES OF EGYPT

The Egyptian authorities are confident that in March-April 2019 air traffic will be open to every resort city in Egypt. Now air communication has been established only with the Cairo airport, which has passed all the checks. But such a vacation is not popular among tourists, since it takes a very long time to get to your hotel from Cairo, it can take from 6 to 7 hours, which is not at all profitable for tourists.

Egyptian Ambassador to Moscow Ihab Nasr expressed the hope that Russian tourists will be able to massively rest in the resorts of Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh already in 2018. In his opinion, this is evidenced by the results of the meeting of the presidents of the Russian Federation and the Arab Republic in Sochi.

The diplomat noted that the resumption of flights is at the final stage. “I hope very much in the very near future, even before the end of 2018,” the ambassador said about the timing of the start of charter programs.

Most other experts in the field of tourism are inclined to believe that they can open a destination immediately after the New Year. Thus, the Egyptian travel expert Abdul Aziz believes that the opening of charter flights to Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh will take place in early January 2019. His opinion is quoted by Vestnik ATOR.

Director for development of the network of travel agencies "Global-Travel" Sergey Samokhvalov gave a less optimistic forecast - in his opinion, air traffic will be restored at best in March-April 2019.

We immediately tell our clients: most likely, first, regular flights will open for those companies that have admissions. According to our estimates, it will still be no earlier than mid-spring. These are the most optimistic expectations. Because, as we understand, the documents on security issues have not yet been signed, - he told the portal life.ru

Dmitry Gorin, Advisor to the Head of Rostourism on Transport, noted that the number of tourists visiting Egypt has dropped significantly.

Egypt is currently visited by no more than 100 thousand people, and before the closure of flights it was 2.5-3 million tourists. The numbers speak for themselves, tourists, of course, are waiting for more comfortable charter flights, - said Gorin.