As of 19 March, air traffic between Egypt and the rest of the world will be suspended, however Egyptian airspace remains open to inbound charter or regular flights arriving on an empty leg to carry outbound passengers to their destinations, should tourists wish to continue their programme in Egypt, according to Minsters of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled Al-Anani, and Minister of Civil Aviation Mohamed Manar.
Al-Anani and Manar met on Tuesday along with top officials from both ministries, with the Head of the Egyptian Federation of Tourism Chambers, and the Head of the Chamber of Tourism Companies present, to discuss the mechanism to implement the decision taken on Monday by the Egyptian government to suspend air traffic in all Egyptian airports starting Thursday at 12:00 pm Cairo local time, until 31 March.
Manar said that Egypt National airspace is not closed and that the decision to suspend air traffic does not include domestic and air cargo flights.
However, all Egyptian airports will be closed during the period of suspension, as well as vital entities in the civil aviation sector.
Al-Anani pointed out that the period of suspension will be a good opportunity to rearrange and develop the tourism sector as well as taking all precautionary measures to ensure the safety and health of the tourism sector employees.
Al-Anani said an international company is to sanitise hotels, Nile cruises, resorts, and tourist entities in addition to carrying out tests and analysis for the health condition of employees in the tourism sector. A training system is to be applied for employees to improve their skills.
