Russian tourists stuck in Egypt due to EU decision

The day before, the EU “closed the sky” for the Turkish Southwind Airlines for the airline’s “connections” with Russia. According to ATOR, the list of affiliated companies could include the Egyptian Air Cairo, which is why Russian tourists are stuck in Egypt

Russian tourists were unable to fly out of Egypt on time, which may be due to the EU imposing a ban on flights within the union countries for the Turkish airline Southwind Airlines, the Association of Russian Tour Operators (ATOR) reports, citing a source.

The day before it became known that the EU “closed the sky” to the Turkish Southwind. As the Turkish industry publication Turizm Guncel reported, Brussels introduced such a measure within the framework of regulation 833/2014, which is related to sanctions against Russia over Ukraine.

The Russian association clarified that Russian tourists who were scheduled to fly from Sharm el-Sheikh on Air Cairo flight SM903 experienced a flight delay. According to the board at Sheremetyevo Airport, it was supposed to take off the day before at 17:30 Moscow time, but the flight was postponed. According to an ATOR source, EU authorities could also recognize this airline as affiliated with Southwind.

On flight SM903 there are tourists from tour operators Coral Travel and PEGAS Touristik. At the moment, both tour operators take clients to hotels, provide them with accommodation and meals , ATOR writes.

“We sat on the plane for about an hour and a half, then the captain of the ship said over the speakerphone: “Our flight is canceled completely, because Eurocontrol banned us from flying, maybe for a day or two. Don’t be upset,” one of the passengers on the flight told Moscow 24.

Airways Magazine previously reported that Finland did not allow Southwind Airlines to fly into its territory because the local aviation agency Traficom identified violations of European legislation by the carrier. According to Finnish aviation authorities, control of the airline does not belong to the declared Turkish individuals and legal entities, but to Russian ones - they founded Southwind Airlines, and most of the staff and fleet were leased from the Russian Nordwind Airlines.

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Southwind Airlines is based in Antalya. The airline launched flights to transport Russians in July 2022. The German tabloid Bild reported about her connection with Russia in December 2023. At the same time, a company representative stated that there were no Russians in the management of Southwind, and all aircraft were registered in Turkey.

EU skies have been closed to Russian aircraft and airlines since February 2022. The USA , Canada , Great Britain , and Australia also took the same step . Russia responded to these measures by closing its airspace to air carriers from 36 countries.

Russia considers the sanctions illegal. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly said that Ankara is under pressure because of anti-Russian restrictions, but there are “positive relations” between Russia and Turkey, so the latter has no plans to impose sanctions.