02/15/2019
On Thursday, the first plane since 2015 with Russian tourists arrived in Hurghada. Strictly speaking, this is not quite a direct flight Moscow-Hurghada, permission for which the Russian authorities have not yet issued: the tour operator Pegas Turistik used a trick to bypass this ban by organizing a flight with a stopover and refueling in Antalya. How the new leadership of Rostourism will react to this is not yet clear. However, waiting for permission for direct charters to Egypt — to Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh, is already in the air.
At the Hurghada airport, a solemn ceremony was held on the occasion of the start of the first flights from Russia, welcoming the first 200 tourists with flowers and music. At the ceremony, Mustafa Refaei, director of Pegas in Hurghada, said that in February the company plans to operate seven flights to Hurghada airport, with the second flight taking place on Friday.
Meanwhile, in Russia, the «waiting mode» for the resumption of charters to Egypt continues. The next check of the airport in Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh was announced a week ago, according to Egyptian media reports, by Russian Transport Minister Yevgeny Dietrich. In February, the Russian government will again send security experts to inspect Hurghada International Airport and Sharm El Sheikh International Airport in South Sinai, he said. At the same time, the Egyptian side assesses the situation with optimism — according to their estimates, experts will conduct a final check of the effective operation of new security systems at the airports of Egyptian resorts, and after that it will be possible to expect the opening of flights. Also, according to their information, the minister said that the staff of the Egyptian airport had passed the necessary training in the operation of new security devices.
Let us remind you that in Russia they are not so optimistic: tired of waiting for the decision to open charters, tour operators are launching the sale of tours «on the transfer». “After the New Year holidays, Egypt has become the leader in sales, significantly outstripping the sales of the UAE and European city tours, which occupy the second and third places, respectively. The demand is evenly distributed between Hurghada and Sharm el Sheikh, the most popular is accommodation in 5-star hotels with all-inclusive food in family rooms for parents with one or two children. The most popular tour duration is 11-12 nights. The average purchase budget is in the region of 80-100 thousand rubles for a family, «Ksenia Mostovskaya, managing partner of the tour operator New Travelers, told the TURPROM information group earlier. As the interlocutor explained, the most popular flights based on the results of the first sales were flights from Moscow to Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh with a connection in Istanbul.
We add that the encyclopedia of resorts, hotels and attractions of Egypt on the Turprom portal at https://www.tourprom.ru/country/egypt/ will help you plan your future trip to Egypt — you can select and explore sights and hotels in advance. And you can book an excursion at any resort in Egypt, including excursions to Cairo (Great Pyramids) and Luxor (Pharaonic Valley), through the search service for excursions and guides Pomogator.Travel at the link https://pomogator.travel/youdo/country/egypt/. Add these links to your favorites.
Nevertheless, most of the tourists are waiting for the opening of direct flights. “The only route on which there are no problems is direct flights. If they are not available, it complicates everything ”, — Sergey Zalivin, executive director of the Egyptian receiving travel agency“ ALS Tour ”, briefly assessed the current situation.
At the same time, the expert noted that the Egyptian side continues to be optimistic about the resumption of direct flights from Russia to Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh. “According to their estimates, everything from the Egyptian side has been done in full, the country is confident in the safety of its air hubs. And, accordingly, we are confident that from mid-March they will receive admissions for flights from Russia. The main question is whether the charters will be immediately resolved, or, as was the case with Turkey, the regular season will be launched first, and the charters will be a kind of second stage. That is, airports will be checked in operation on a limited number of tourists, so that the situation is easier to control. But in general, in the opinion of the Egyptians, the delivery «on the checkpoints» is an intermediate stage, and from mid-to-late March direct flights will already fly «- summed up Sergei Zalivin.
+20 106 930 3640 Contact us
Skype: Hurghada RedSeaLine