EGYPT: EgyptAir Crash Latest Blow to Already Fragile Egyptian Tourism Industry

The crash of EgyptAir Flight 804 and the subsequent investigation, experts are warning that the latest incident has the potential to further set back the tourism industry and the overall economy in Egypt.

The tourism industry is responsible for around 12 percent of Egypt’s gross domestic product and one out of every nine jobs in the country is related to travel, but the recent string of terrorist attacks and crashes has hurt the nation’s economy.

The economic struggles for Egypt started well before the crash of EgyptAir Flight 804, as the attack on Metrojet Flight 9268 and the shootings in the resort city of Hurghada have also seriously impacted tourism numbers.

On average, 900,000 foreigners were visiting Egypt each month before Metrojet Flight 9268 crashed due to a terrorist attack last October. After the attack, the number of visitors to the country had fallen to 500,000 the following month.

In January, gunmen attacked tourists at a hotel in Hurghada, resulting in the number of tourists visiting Egypt falling to 346,500 the following month. When compared to the same time in 2015, tourism declined nearly 46 percent.

In addition, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism revealed that spending on the industry fell by 15 percent last year. Experts also believe the number could continue to decline if American travelers avoid visiting Egypt.

While tourism experts claim it’s too soon to estimate the fallout from the EgyptAir crash, they believe the travel industry will likely not rebound anytime soon.

“There is understandable consumer caution and hesitancy,” Trafalgar USA president Paul Wiseman said. “There has not been a large influx of cancellations for Egypt trips for travel, but people are making different destination choices. A few years ago, Egypt was a top 10 destination for Americans traveling with Trafalgar. Sadly, that is no longer the case.”

EgyptAir Flight 804, What went wrong?

The plane disappeared from radar early Thursday as it flew to Cairo in what should have been about a 3½-hour flight.

At some point before dropping off radar, the plane swerved 90 degrees to the left and then made a 360-degree turn to the right before plunging first to 15,000 feet, then 10,000 feet, and disappearing from radar, Greek officials said.

That sudden change in what had been an uneventful flight is why Egyptian officials are focusing on terror as the likely cause, a senior Egyptian official says.

What Greek officials described as swerving movements were likely pieces of the aircraft being picked up on radar as they fell from the sky, U.S. officials said.

As of now, investigators have found nothing implicating the flight crew or security officials aboard the plane, the Egyptian official said.

Checks of the passenger manifest have so far resulted in no hits on terror watch lists, officials with knowledge of the investigation said.
The jet had routine maintenance checks in Cairo before it left for Paris, the airline said.

Earlier Wednesday, the jet was also in Eritrea and Tunisia, data from flight-tracking websites show.

Greece, France, the United States and other nations were searching about 130 nautical miles southeast of the Greek island of Karpathos, Greek aviation officials said.

The European Space Agency said that its Sentinel-1A satellite had spotted an oil slick near where the plane is believed to have crashed. The agency said it's possible the slick could be from another source.

As crews searched, somber relatives gathered in Cairo and Paris airports, seeking word on their loved ones. EgyptAir officials met with families Saturday to explain the lengthy process of identifying the bodies.

The airline said it will take time to retrieve body parts and conduct DNA tests. Families were asked to provide as much information as possible to identify the body parts.

The Egyptian Civil Aviation Ministry has formed an investigative committee for the crash led by Ayman al-Moqadem, the investigator also in charge of the inquiry into the October crash of a Russian Metrojet airliner over the Sinai. That disaster, which killed all 224 aboard, is widely believed to be the work of terrorists.

Egypt's military on Saturday displayed wreckage and personal belongings as searchers scoured the Mediterranean Sea for EgyptAir Flight 804's flight data and cockpit voice recorders.

The chunks of debris included an uninflated life vest, a seat, a purse, shoes, carpet, a scarf, parts of chairs and cushions and a sling bag. The EgyptAir label appeared on one piece of wreckage.

"The search is ongoing. It has uncovered initial pieces of the aircraft, body parts, belongings of the deceased, and it will continue hopefully until we can ascertain exactly where the plane has gone down," Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said.

Shoukry said the searchers are pressing on, but it isn't clear how long it will take to recover the cockpit voice and flight data recorders.

The United States, France, Britain, Russia and others are eager to cooperate in the search, Shoukry said, adding he anticipates assistance in finding the recorders.

"We do not, I think, have the technical abilities to operate in such deep waters, whereas many of our partners might have this facility," he said.

On Friday, EgyptAir and Greek officials said that searchers found seats, personal belongings, and a body part. The Egyptian military said it discovered debris about 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Alexandria, Egypt.

No survivors have been found. Egyptian officials have said they suspect the crash was caused by an act of terror, but no group has come forward to claim credit.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told passengers' families Saturday that "no theory" has been ruled out.

The Airbus A320 carried 56 passengers and 10 crew members and security when it left Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris late Wednesday headed for Cairo.

Most of the passengers were Egyptian 30 in all.

Also aboard were 15 French citizens, including an infant, and passengers from Iraq, Britain, Belgium, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Chad, Portugal, Canada and Algeria, according to Sharif Fathi, Egypt's civil aviation minister.

In France, aviation officials revealed that the plane sent automatic messages about smoke in the front of the aircraft just before it crashed early Thursday.

Flight data indicated smoke alerts occurred near the cockpit minutes before the crash.

The data came through the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System, or ACARS, which sends messages between planes and ground facilities. A screen grab of data has time stamps that match the approximate time the aircraft went missing.

BEA, France's accident investigation agency, "can confirm that the aircraft sent automatic ACARS messages about smoke in the front of the aircraft," spokesman Sebastian Barthe said.

Barthe said he cannot confirm the cause of the smoke or its origins.

The alerts don't necessarily mean a fire occurred on the plane or that the crew even knew about the alerts, which are automatically transmitted, aviation experts cautioned.

The data doesn't tell us anything, whether it's an explosion because of a bomb or because of a mechanical fault, but immediately it narrows down the area that we're looking at.

"We're now no longer worried about wings or what else might have happened, or other flight control surfaces."

EgyptAir issued a statement on the ACARS information. It said: "We are looking at all the information that is collected but it is far too early to make judgment or decision on single source of information such as the ACARS messages, which are signals or indicators that may have different causes thus require further analysis, as part of the overall investigation."

Aviation experts held different views of what the data may signify.

There were indications of problems with a heated window in the cockpit, a sliding window in the cockpit, smoke in the lavatory, smoke in the avionics compartment below the cockpit, a fixed window, the autopilot and the flight control system.

It could have been either something mechanical that had failed, a short circuit, or it could have been an incendiary device of some kind as well.
He said it was significant that the data was sent over a period of one to two minutes.

The ACARS data, however, could be consistent with a catastrophic failure,be it from an intentional act or mechanical breakdown, according to an aviation official and a former Federal Aviation Administration official.

The aviation official said if there were a fire on the plane, it would tend to burn slow enough for pilots to send an emergency message. These messages could have been a result of wires shorting out and malfunctioning as the plane broke apart.

The aviation official said the messages, while random, would be consistent with what a system would send on a plane falling apart.

There have been electrical problems with window anti-ice heaters in A320s. In 2003, the FAA required windshields replaced in all A320s in the United States. It's not known whether Egypt followed the FAA directive.

We Pray For The Victims On EgyptAir Flight 804.

The first available audio from EgyptAir Flight 804 showed the pilot in normal contact with Swiss air traffic controllers as the flight continued on its course from Paris toward Cairo, hours before officials lost contact with the jet.

The seemingly standard dialogue came to light hours after Egypt denied media reports the doomed jet's black boxes had been located.

The new audio indicated that all was routine as the plane checked in with air traffic controllers in Zurich late Wednesday night, before being handed over to Italian air traffic controllers in Padua.

Control: "EgyptAir804 contact Padova 1-2-0, decimal 7-2-5, good night."

Pilot: "This is 0-7-2-5 Padova control. (Unintelligible) 8-0-4. Thank you so much. Good day, er, good night."

The audio recording was taken from www.liveatc.net, a website that provides live air traffic control broadcasts from around the world.

The communication occurred around midnight local time, about 2 ½ hours before Greek air traffic controllers in Athens lost contact with EgyptAir Flight 804.

Earlier Saturday, Egypt denied reports that the black boxes from the missing plane had been located by investigators seeking answers to what brought down the aircraft over the Mediterranean.

A senior official at the Egyptian Civil Aviation Ministry refuted the reports as did a spokesman for Egypt’s military who said he had no information to share on the retrieval of the black boxes, or cockpit voice and flight data recorders.

The statements came as French investigators announced Saturday that smoke was detected in multiple places on the ill-fated EgyptAir plane before it plummeted into the Mediterranean Sea.

The Aviation Herald initially reported that sensors detected smoke in a lavatory, suggesting a fire onboard the aircraft before it went down.

David Learmount, a noted aviation expert, told Fox News Friday that the data received from some satellites indicates that a fire could’ve started in the avionics compartment of the plane which knocked out computers and control mechanisms on the flight. He said that would’ve caused the plane to crash.

French officials didn’t say what could have caused parts of Flight 804 to fill up with smoke. Spokesman Sebastien Barthe said the plane’s automatic detection system sent messages indicating smoke a few minutes before it disappeared from radar.

He said the messages “generally mean the start of a fire.”

"We are drawing no conclusions from this. Everything else is pure conjecture,” Barthe added.

Sensors aboard the plane detected smoke in the lavatory on the aircraft’s nose. The paper, citing someone familiar with the aircraft’s data, reported the messages suggest there was damage to the right-side of the cockpit windows.

Officials who have reviewed the data say that the broadcast information by itself is insufficient to determine whether the plane crashed because of a bomb or another cause. Rockwell Collins, a global aviation telecommunications provider, said late Friday it transmitted the messages over its networks to the carrier in real time.

Learmount said the possibility of terrorism couldn’t be ruled out. He said there were a couple other scenarios that could have caused the plane to crash.

A terrorist got into the avionics compartment and placed a device that triggered the fire and alarm
That all of these sensors were picking up smoke and then disablement following a bomb going off.
That the fault in the avionics and the terror attack happened concurrently.

An EgyptAir official confirmed Friday that wreckage of the missing plane was found, including body parts, luggage and passengers’ seats. The announcement came hours after a Greece official also reported evidence being found.

"A short while ago we were briefed by the Egyptian authorities on the discovery of a body part, a seat and baggage just south of where the aircraft signal was lost," Defense Minister Panos Kammenos said in Athens.

The Cairo-bound Airbus 320 had left Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris late Wednesday night with 66 on board, and disappeared from radar as it neared its destination.

A mile-long oil slick was identified from satellite images from the European Space Agency, which cautioned that there was no guarantee the slick was from the missing aircraft. The agency said the slick was about 25 miles southeast of the plane's last known location, and passed the information to relevant authorities late Thursday.

The Egyptian presidency Friday expressed its "deep sadness and extreme regret" over the deaths of the passengers and crew members aboard the flight the first official recognition of the tragic crash.

Egyptian army spokesman Brig. Gen. Mohammed Samir wrote on his Facebook page that Egyptian jets and naval vessels participating in the search for the missing plane had found "personal belongings of the passengers and parts of the plane debris."

No terror groups has taken credit for the disaster and authorities were going through the passenger manifest, crew members' backgrounds and airport staff for possible links to terror.

Authorities said the plane swerved and spun wildly before plummeting into the sea. The Egyptian military said that no distress call was received from the pilot.

In Paris, French authorities scoured Charles de Gaulle Airport, the country's main hub, for any sign of a security breach prior to the flight's departure. Investigators were interviewing officers who were on duty at the airport Wednesday night to determine whether they heard or saw anything suspicious.

"We are in the early stages here," a police source said about the investigation.

Flight 804 was carrying 56 passengers, including one child and two babies, three security staff and seven crew members, officials said. Egypt's aviation minister, Sharif Fathy, described those on board as including 15 French passengers, 30 Egyptians, one Briton, two Iraqis, one Kuwaiti, one Saudi, one Sudanese, one Chadian, one Portuguese, one Algerian and one Canadian.

In Egypt, home to 30 of the victims, grieving families and friends wondered if their loved ones would ever be recovered. Many gathered in mosques for Salat al-Ghaib, or "prayers for the absent," held for the dead whose bodies have not been found.

"This is what is ripping our hearts apart, when we think about it. When someone you love so much dies, at least you have a body to bury. But we have no body until now," said Sherif al-Metanawi, a childhood friend of the pilot, Mohammed Shoukair.

Among those killed were Salah Abu Laban, his wife Sahar Qouidar, their son Ghassan Abu Laban and daughter-in-law Reem al-Sebaei

The relative, Abdel-Rahman al-Nasry, said "I ask God for forgiveness. This is very hard for the family."

Magdi Badr, a family friend, said, "we pray for the victims."

EgyptAir Crash:Flight Data Shows Smoke In Bathroom Before Crash

Data transmitted from a doomed EgyptAir flight minutes before it fell off radar screens suggests a fire had broken out on board the plane, according to an aviation industry website.

AvHerald.com is reporting that data transmissions from EgyptAir Flight 804 to ground stations show smoke was detected in a bathroom near the cockpit. NBC News has confirmed the messages are authentic.

The ACARS (Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting) system messages suggest the possibility of smoke or a fire in close proximity to the electronics and equipment bay of the Airbus below the floor of the cockpit.

Messages also seem to indicate there may have been a problem with the controls and computers, critical to controlling the plane.

"We don't know what it is, but it's a clear indication that something was terribly wrong on flight 804," John Cox, a former Airbus A320 pilot, told NBC News. The EgyptAir plane that crashed was an Airbus A320.

The website reported that investigators are poring over the ACARS messages to determine what may have happened on the plane before it went down.

Sixty-six people were aboard the Airbus A320 flying from Paris to Cairo before it vanished early Thursday morning. Wreckage from the plane was found Friday in the Mediterranean Sea some 180 miles off the Egyptian coast.

Terrorism has been cited as a potential cause of the crash — though officials have cautioned against speculation and there has been no credible claim of responsibility from any group.

U.S. intelligence sources say they are aware of the AvHerald.com report about the ACARS data and have no reason to believe the information is not accurate.

The report includes the plane-to-ground messages sent in the final minutes of the flight:

00:26Z 2600 SMOKE LAVATORY SMOKE

00:27Z 2600 AVIONICS SMOKE

00:28Z 561100 R FIXED WINDOW SENSOR

00:29Z 2200 AUTO FLT FCU 2 FAULT

00:29Z 2700 F/CTL SEC 3 FAULT

An "FCU" refers to a unit in cockpit the pilot uses to input instructions into the flight computer. "SEC3" refers to the computer that controls the spoilers and elevator computers of the plane.

No mayday call was sent from the jet before it disappeared off radar.

Former National Transportation Safety Board investigator Greg Feith said the fact that the smoke warning occurred so soon before the plane disappeared suggest something more catastrophic than a discarded cigarette or electrical fire.

"Electrical fires don't burn that fast, and of course if somebody were to put a cigarette in a trash can with paper towels it definitely wouldn't have burned that fast," Feith said.

"It would have set off the sensor but the flight crew is trained to handle those types of fires and it would have given them time. Plus, they probably would have made a radio call," he said.

Meanwhile, investigators are looking at anyone with access to the EgyptAir plane while it was sitting on the ground, including baggage handlers, caterers, cleaners and fuel truck workers.

The EgyptAir plane was on the ground at four different airports in the 24 hours before the crash — in the Eritrean capital Asmara, Cairo, Tunis and Paris

Egyptair Crash Nationalities

A plant manager with Cincinnati-based Proctor & Gamble was one of 66 passengers and crew members aboard EgyptAir Flight 804 when it disappeared Thursday over the Mediterranean Sea.

Others on board included a Welsh geologist, the sister-in-law of an Egyptian diplomat, a Kuwaiti economist and a French photographer who, covered rock concerts.

People from a dozen countries were on the EgyptAir flight en route from Paris to Cairo when it vanished from radar. No U.S. citizens were on the plane, according to the airline.

There were 30 Egyptians and 15 French citizens listed on the manifest. Two infants and a child were on the flight. Other passengers included two Iraqis and people from nine other countries: Sudan, Chad, Portugal, Algeria, Great Britain, Belgium, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Ten crew members were also on board.

Two Canadians were on the flight, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Stephane Dion said in a statement.

Procter & Gamble spokesman Damon Jones identified its employee on the flight as Egyptian-born Ahmed Helal, a married father of two children and manager of the company's Amiens France manufacturing plant. He had worked for the company since 2000.

"We are in touch with the employee’s family and are offering them our full support during this difficult time. Our thoughts and prayers are with them, and all the affected families," Jones said.

Helal was 40, according to French public-radio network France Bleu. He was in charge of one of P&G's largest fabric care plants in the world, employing 930 workers and shipping Ariel, Mr. Clean, Febreze, Dash and Gama throughout Europe.

Helal's Facebook profile lists his hometown as Alexandria, Egypt. He studied mechanical engineering at American University in Cairo before graduating in 2000.

Welshman Richard Osman, 40, a geologist, was among those on the plane, British news outlets reported. He moved to Wales as a boy when his father, a doctor, set up a medical practice there.

A former neighbor, Audrey Jones, said: "He was such a nice lad and always very good to his mother."

Airport officials in Egypt identified two other victims as Hisham el-Maqawad, a sister-in-law of the deputy to the Egyptian ambassador in Paris, and Sahar al-Khawaga, a Saudi woman who worked at the Saudi Embassy in Cairo. Al-Khawaga was in Paris to follow up on her daughter's medical treatment there, the officials said.

Abdel Mohsen Al-Sohaili, a Kuwaiti economist with two disabled children, was headed to Cairo for a three-day break, his nephew, Mosharei al-Sohaili, said.

Pascal Hess, a photographer from Evreux, France, who covered rock concerts, also was a passenger.