The number of passengers received at Egyptian airports during the first 10 months of 2016 declined by 29% compared to the same period in 2015, according to statistics issued by the Holding Company for Airports and Air Navigation.
In all, 20.1m passengers had gone through Egyptian airports in this period, compared to 28.4m in 2015. The number of flights during this period also fell by 15%, totalling 237,000 in 2016 compared to 277,000 in 2015.
Cairo International airport witnessed a small decrease in the number of flights it had received, from 130,000 in 2015 to 123,000 in 2016. The total number of passengers that the airport handled fell by two points, from 12.1m in 2015 to 11.8m in 2016.
The Sharm El-Sheikh International airport registered the biggest drop in flights and tourism, experiencing a year-on-year drop in the number of passengers of 74%, registering 1.3m passengers in 2016 compared to 5.3m in 2015. In the same period, the number of flights dropped from 38,000 in 2015 to 16,000 in 2016.
The number of passengers received at the Hurghada International airport fell by 62%, from 6m passengers in 2015 to 2.3m in 2016. The number of flights in this period also dropped, from 39,000 to 20,000.
In October a total of 1.8m passengers had gone through Egyptian airports, compared to 2.8m in the same month of the previous year. The number of flights fell by 21.9% during this period, totalling 22,000 compared to 28,000 in October 2015.
Flight traffic at Cairo International airport declined by 5% in October, registering 11,900 flights compared to 12,600 flights in October 2015. Passenger traffic fell to one million compared to 1.1 million the previous year.
Passenger traffic at Sharm El-Sheikh International airport during October amounted to 153,000 passengers compared to 583,000 passengers in October 2015, a 73.7% decline. The number of flights also fell by 56.3%, from 3,900 in 2015 to 1,700.
Passenger traffic in Hurghada International airport declined by 57% in October to 288,000 passengers compared to 670,000 passengers in October 2015. Flights fell by 41%, from 4,300 in the previous year to 2,500.
In October 2015, a Russian aeroplane en route from Sharm El-Sheikh to St. Petersburg was downed over the Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 passengers and crew aboard. The cause of the crash was determined to be “high energy dynamic influence”, from within the aircraft. In other words, an internal explosion ruptured the fuselage of the aeroplane.
Several countries have issued travel warnings to Egypt, while Russia suspended all flights into the country. Britain had also suspended flight to Sharm El-Sheikh.
According to the Ministry of Tourism, Russian and British tourism to Egypt accounts for 45% of the annual sheer inflow. After the incident Egypt witnessed a sharp decline in tourism, with the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics registering a 99.6% decline in the number of Russian tourists visiting Egypt after the incident. The year-on-year decline in November was 41%
