On Saturday night, Luxor received its first charter flight from Spain after a 17-month suspension.
International flights to all Egyptian airports across the country were suspended on March 19, 2020 as part of the government’s efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
Inbound flights resumed only on 1 July 2020 in three provinces under the first phase, namely the Red Sea, South Sinai and Matruh provinces. Tourist activities in Luxor and Aswan resumed in early September, and floating hotels resumed operations on October 1.
The office of the Egyptian Tourism Development Council in Luxor received with flowers the tourists of the first charter flights from Spain to Luxor.
Eman Mahmoud, head of the department’s Main Department of Domestic Tourism, said the plane, traveling from the Spanish capital, Madrid, was carrying 114 tourists.
She added that it is planned to operate two charter flights a week from Spain to Luxor, starting next week until October this year.
Meanwhile, Luxor also accepted the first charter flights from France after the resumption of inbound tourist traffic to Egypt in early July 2020.
Mahmoud said the plane, traveling from the French capital, Paris, was carrying 178 French tourists.
He added that the charter flight will be operated once a week from France to Luxor until November this year.