British Airways’ Cairo flights suspended over security

British Airways suspended flights to Cairo for a week to make a security assessment, the company said.

German airline Lufthansa quickly followed suit as it temporarily halted flights to the Egyptian capital from Frankfurt and Munich, but its normal service was resumed yesterday.

“We constantly review our security arrangements at all our airports around the world, and have suspended flights to Cairo for seven days as a precaution to allow for further assessment,” a statement from BA said.

It also said it would never operate an aircraft unless it was safe to do so.

Three Egyptian airport security sources told Reuters that British staff were checking security at Cairo airport on Wednesday and Thursday.

The British Foreign Office advises against all but essential travel by air to and from the Egyptian resort of Sharm El Sheikh, where a Russian passenger jet was bombed in 2015. But it has not issued similar warnings against flying to and from Cairo.

The Foreign Office updated its travel advice on Saturday to include a reference to the British Airways suspension, advising travellers affected to contact the airline. “There’s a heightened risk of terrorism against aviation,” the British advisory said. “Additional security measures are in place for flights departing from Egypt to the UK.”

Egypt’s Ministry of Civil Aviation said in a statement on Saturday that the British Embassy in Cairo had confirmed that the decision to suspend the flights was not issued by the UK’s transport or foreign ministries. The Egyptian ministry

The 2015 bombing of a Russian jet by ISIS killed all 224 people on board shortly after take-off

also said it would add flights from Cairo to London starting yesterday “to facilitate transporting passengers during this period”.

Tourism, a vital source of foreign revenue for Egypt, has been gradually recovering after traveller numbers dropped after the 2011 uprising and the 2015 bombing of the Russian jet, which killed all 224 people on board shortly after take-off.

That attack, which was claimed by ISIS, prompted Russia to halt flights to Egypt. Other countries, including Britain, have stopped flying to Sharm El Sheikh.