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Egypt Losing $250M Monthly After Russian Plane Crash

by PH January 29, 2016, 2:08 pm

This photo released by the Prime Minister's office shows the tail of a Metrojet plane that crashed in Hassana, Egypt on Saturday, Oct. 31, 2015. The Russian aircraft carrying 224 people crashed Saturday in a remote mountainous region in the Sinai Peninsula about 20 minutes after taking off from a Red Sea resort popular with Russian tourists, the Egyptian government said. There were no survivors. There were more airline deaths worldwide due to deliberate acts in 2015 than to accidental air crashes for the second year in a row, according to an industry tally. (Suliman el-Oteify/Egyptian Prime Minister's Office via AP)

An Egyptian government official says Egypt has lost hundreds of millions of dollars since last year’s suspected bombing of a Russian plane, which crippled the country’s vital tourism industry.

South Sinai Governor Khaled Fouda was quoted by the state-run Al-Ahram daily on Friday as saying that hotel occupancy in the resort cities of Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada stands at less than 20% and that the cities lose nearly 2 billion Egyptian pounds (more than $250m) each month.

Russia suspended all flights to Egypt and Britain halted flights to Sharm el-Sheikh after the October 31 crash.

The Islamic State group claims that it planted a bomb on board and Moscow has concluded the plane was downed by an explosive. But Egypt claims it is still investigating the cause.