giving no details about what had
prompted the move.
"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," it said in a statement.
The
airline added that it would never operate an aircraft unless it was
safe to do so. When asked for more details about why flights had been
suspended and what security arrangements the airline was reviewing, a
spokeswoman responded: "We never discuss matters of security."
Three
Egyptian airport security sources told Reuters that British staff had
been checking security at Cairo airport on Wednesday and Thursday. They
provided no further details.
The
British Foreign Office updated its travel advice on Saturday to add a
reference to the British Airways suspension, advising travelers affected
to contact the airline.
It has long advised against all but essential travel by air to and from
the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where a Russian passenger jet
was bombed in 2015, but has not issued similar warnings against air
travel to and from Cairo.
"There’s
a heightened risk of terrorism against aviation. Additional security
measures are in place for flights departing from Egypt to the U.K.," the
British advice says.
Egypt's civil aviation ministry could not immediately be reached for comment.
Tourism,
a key source of foreign revenue for Egypt, has been recovering after
tourist numbers dropped in the wake of a 2011 uprising and the 2015
bombing of the Russian passenger jet, which killed all 224 people on
board shortly after takeoff.
That
attack, which was claimed by the Islamic State group, prompted Russia
to halt all flights to Egypt for several years and a number
of countries, including Britain, to cease flights to Sharm el-Sheikh,
which have yet to resume.
VOA