Egypt says near meeting Russia’s airport security demands

Cairo – Egyptian officials say they are drawing closer to meeting all demands set by Russia on airport security to restore flights to Egypt.

They say work has begun this week to install up to 16 finger-print security gates for employees at two of Cairo airport’s main terminals and to raise a potentially vulnerable stretch of the facility’s perimeter fence at a residential Cairo suburb.

The officials say 16 such gates have already been installed at the facility’s 1 and 3 terminals at Moscow’s request.

The officials spoke on Sunday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief the media.

Moscow suspended air links to Egypt after Islamic militants downed a Russian airliner over Sinai in 2015, killing all 224 people on board and decimating the country’s vital tourism industry.