British Airways has suspended flights to Cairo for seven days, although the airline says that this is not due to security concerns at the city’s airport.
“We constantly review our security arrangements at all our airports around the world, and have suspended flights to Cairo for seven days as a precaution to allow for further assessment,” the airline said in a statement posted to its website.
At the same time, Sherif Barsoum, British Airways' regional director, said to ABC News that the decision to suspend flights to Cairo was not related to security concerns at the airport.
“We have no concerns over security at Cairo Airport,” Barsoum told ABC News. “The British team that inspected the airport last week found nothing alarming; it was a positive visit.”
According to the BBC, Lufthansa had also suspended flights between Cairo and Frankfurt and Munich on Saturday. Those flights, however, resumed Sunday.
On Saturday, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) released updated travel advice for Egypt warning of “a heightened risk of terrorism against aviation.”
“Additional security measures are in place for flights departing from Egypt to the UK,” the FCO said.
The FCO does not advise against traveling to Cairo, however; in the organization’s travel advice, it simply noted to “see our travel advice before traveling.” The FCO does advise against traveling to the North Sinai. That advice is similar to the U.S. State Department’s travel advisory, which lists Egypt at Level 2 on a four-point rating scale, but warns against travel to the Sinai Peninsula (except Sharm El-Sheikh by air), the Western Desert and border areas.
British Airways customers can check the status of their flight here. Those whose flight has been cancelled can be rebooked onto another British Airways flight at no extra charge (subject to availability). If they no longer wish to travel, customers can cancel their booking and get a refund, including taxes, to the original form of payment.
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