Russian aviation authorities have banned Egypt Air from flying into the country, one of Moscow's airports said Friday, with Russian flights between the two countries already suspended following the passenger jet crash in Sinai. Moscow's Domodedovo airport authorities told AFP that they had received a telegram from the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) banning Egypt Air's flights to Russian territory from November 14. Russian aviation agency Rosaviatsia declined to comment when contacted by AFP.
Egypt's aviation minister said in a statement that Cairo had "not been officially informed about the cancellation of Egypt Air flights from Saturday to Moscow." "High-level contacts are underway to clarify the situation," minister Hossam Kamal said. The announcement comes a week after Moscow halted Russian flights to and from Egypt as fears mounted that the Airbus jet crash in the Sinai peninsula could have been caused by a bomb.
The plane, flown by Russian firm Kogalymavia, came down shortly after take off from resort Sharm el-Sheikh on October 31, killing all 224 people on board in Russia's worst air disaster. The Egyptian-led probe into the disaster is still ongoing, but the UK and US have said a bomb could have downed the plane after an Islamic State-linked group claimed to have attacked the jet. Russia says its flights are halted until adequate safety measures have been put in place at Egyptian airports and has been flying out thousands of holidaymakers stranded in the country, though without any check-in luggage. A senior Kremlin official has said the flight ban to Egypt could last for months and Russia's flagship carrier Aeroflot said it was not scheduling any flights to Egypt before March 27, 2016.
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