Egypt criticizes British Airways 7-day flight suspension to Cairo

CAIRO - The Egyptian aviation minister met on Sunday with Britain's ambassador to Egypt at the ministry headquarters, where he expressed displeasure with British Airways' decision to suspend flights to the Egyptian capital for seven days.

Egypt's Minister of Civil Aviation Younis al-Masry "expressed his displeasure that British Airways makes a unilateral decision concerning the security of Egyptian airports without referring to the competent Egyptian authorities," the Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation said in a statement on Sunday.

British Ambassador Geoffrey Adams apologized to the minister for not informing the Egyptian authorities beforehand, explaining that the decision has nothing to do with the security conditions of the Egyptian airports, according to the Egyptian statement.

The two sides vowed to continue joint efforts to solve the issue as soon as possible, asserting the depth of relations between Egypt and Britain.

On Saturday, International Airlines Group's British Airways suspended its flights to Cairo for seven days "as a precaution to allow further assessment."

"We would never operate an aircraft unless it was safe to do so," the British carrier said in Saturday's statement.

Later Saturday, Germany's Lufthansa said it cancelled two flights to Cairo as well, but it resumed flights on Sunday.