Major airlines suspend flights to Cairo over safety concerns

It's unclear what exactly prompted the move.

Major airlines such as British Airways and Lufthansa have suspended flights to the Egyptian capital city of Cairo over safety concerns. However, no specifics details have been provided as to what prompted the decision. "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," British Airways said in a statement on Saturday. Similarly, a spokesperson for Lufthansa told Al Jazeera: "As safety is the number one priority of Lufthansa, the airline has temporarily suspended its flights to Cairo today as a precaution, while further assessment is being made." Lufthansa has said it expects its suspension to end today (21 July). 224 people were killed in 2015 after a bomb detonated on a Metrojet flight bound for Russia, shortly after it left an Egyptian airport and was still in Egyptian airspace. Neither Aer Lingus nor Ryanair operate direct flights to Cairo. The Department of Foreign Affairs advises a "high degree of caution" to all Irish citizens who travel to Egypt. "We advise against all travel to North Sinai, the vicinity of the borders with Libya and Palestine. "Irish citizens are strongly advised against all travel to:

• the Governorate of North Sinai including the Taba-Suez Road where the security situation is extremely dangerous.
• desert areas close to the Libyan border due to heightened concerns about the security situation there.
• Gaza via the Rafah border crossing. The vicinity of the Rafah border crossing is particularly dangerous at the moment and the border crossing is closed most of the time."

The DFA considers there to be a "high risk of terrorist attacks" in the north African country.