International airlines have begun deviating their flightpaths around the Sinai peninsula following the crash of MetroJet (Russian Federation) (Moscow Domodedovo) A321-200 EI-ETJ (cn 663) while en-route from Sharm el Sheikh to St. Petersburg as flight 7K9268 on Saturday, October 31. All 217 passengers and 7 crew on-board were killed.
While the cause of the incident has yet to be determined, Egyptian affiliates of the terrorist organization Islamic State have attempted to claim responsibility.
Among the airlines that have taken corrective measures include Ural Airlines (U6, Ekaterinburg), Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad International), flydubai (FZ, Dubai International), Air Arabia (G9, Sharjah), and Kuwait’s Jazeera Airways (J9, Kuwait). Others such as British Airways (BA, London Heathrow) and Etihad Airways (EY, Abu Dhabi International) have retained their original flightpaths pending "a full assessment of the situation."
Though Egyptian air traffic control had curbed flights transiting the PASOS waypoint in the immediate aftermath of the disaster, those restrictions have since been lifted with airways UL550 and Sinai open to traffic once more.
