UAE airlines Emirates, Air Arabia and flydubai said yesterday they were re-routing flights to avoid Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, where a Russian aircraft carrying 224 passengers crashed on Saturday.
The airlines said they were closely monitoring the area and the re-routing was a security precaution, according to separate e-mailed statements to Reuters. Re-routing usually means longer flying distances, which add to fuel costs.
Budget carrier easyJet said it was taking advice from all relevant authorities and was continuing to “actively review” the situation. British Airways said in a statement that it did not discuss flight routes, “however we would never fly a route unless it was safe to do so”.
easyJet said that it, like other British airlines, did not overfly central and northern Sinai on the advice of Britain’s Department of Transport. The Russian plane crashed into a mountainous area of central Sinai on Saturday.
