EGYPT: Egypt Stands To Lose $273 Million A Month From Flight Cacelletions

It has been a challenging time for Egypt since a Russian airliner crashed, 23 minutes after takeoff from the sinai resort of sharm al -sheikh about a week ago.

Egypt's tourism industry, vital to its economy, has already suffered from years of political instability and attacks claimed by militants.

Russian and British tourists accounted for two-thirds of tourism traffic to Sharm al-Sheikh, while Russians made up half the tourists visiting another Red Sea destination - Hurghada, Zazou said.

Mr Hammond reaffirmed the view of the British authorities was that it was "more likely than not" that the crash was the result of a terrorist bomb planted on the aircraft before it took off from Sharm el-Sheikh.

Prior to Wednesday, safety board officials were itching to join the five-nation investigation, but they were repeatedly rebuffed by their Egyptian counterparts.

More than 25,000 Russian tourists - stranded in the country when Russia suspended flights to Egypt - have left the country with carry-on luggage.

A spokeswoman said: "Across the resort, airport style scanners, sniffer dogs, body searches, metal detectors, private security, police and CCTV are being used to keep tourists safe".

The United Kingdom is among several countries to have halted flights to and from the resort due to intelligence concerns - stranding thousands of holidaymakers.

"The people defy the conspiracy - Egypt will not cave in to pressures", read the front-page headline of the state-owned Al-Gomhur newspaper.

On November 6, Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed with recommendations of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee to suspend air service with Egypt until the causes of the A321 plane crash were identified.

"But on Monday morning we were having breakfast and Thompson must have been putting on extra planes to get people out quickly - we ended up going on a flight on Monday and got home in the early hours of Tuesday. We will have nothing but a few Ukrainians and Belarusians".

"To be honest, we stopped flights to Egypt, not knowing the final version (of the crash), but we did this as a preventative measure, as a precaution", he said.

EFG-Hermes, one of the Middle East's largest investment banks, also expected that the move would not boost dollar liquidity in Egypt, which faces a long-running currency crisis.

"For months we have welcomed the presence of foreign experts in all Egyptian airports." el-Sisi said.