ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik) — Russia suspended flights to and from Egypt after an Airbus A321 plane flying to St. Petersburg crashed as a result of an explosion on board on the Sinai Peninsula soon after taking off from Sharm El-Sheikh on October 31, 2015, killing all 224 people aboard.
"If the Egyptian colleagues invite us with the commission by December, if the group works rapidly and prepares the corresponding report, we will inform the administration and if the decision is made by the authorities, it [the resumption of flights] can be launched before winter holidays. But for now these are just assumptions," Sokolov told journalists.
Sokolov noted that the Egyptian authorities implemented almost every airport security measure demanded by Russia with the remaining one, including a biometric system of employee access to airports, to be taken in the coming weeks.