Airlines Now Avoiding Overflying Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula
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Early this morning, a Russian-operated Airbus A321 crashed shortly after departing Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh airport. All 224 people on the charter flight to St. Petersburg, Russia died in the crash. While terrorism was ruled out by some officials, several airlines now appear to be intentionally avoiding flying over the Sinai Peninsula, a relatively small piece of desert between Egypt and Israel seen in the center of the Flightradar24 screenshot above.

Officially, Air France and Lufthansa have stated that they’ll be avoiding that area pending the results of an investigation into today’s crash. According to a Reuters article, Lufthansa has fewer than 10 flights passing through the Sinai each day, so there won’t be a substantial impact. It’s unclear if other airlines will follow suit — for now, AF and LH appear to be acting out of an abundance of caution.
Our thoughts go out to the families of the victims of Metrojet flight 9268.
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