Parliament approves law on providing insurance for EgyptAir's Russia flights

Egypt's parliament gave the thumbs up on Wednesday for a government-drafted law on providing insurance to EgyptAir to offset the difficulties faced by the national airline amid the Ukraine crisis. The law, which was approved by the House's Budget Committee on Sunday, allows the finance minister to provide EgyptAir with an insurance guarantee covering risks – such as wars and hijacking – that it might face due to operating flights to and from Russia. Fakhri El-Fiqi, chairman of the House's Budget Committee, read out a report on the law, saying that the EgyptAir Holding Company "has recently faced a number of crises, at the top of which is the breakout of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, which had a disastrous impact on the world transport industry." El-Fiqi explained that the Russia-Ukraine war has led to the European Union imposing sanctions against Russia that include banning European insurance and reinsurance companies from providing insurance or paying compensations to certain Russian individuals or entities. The report added that EgyptAir has stopped its flights to Russia since 2 March due to the EU sanctions. El-Fiqi explained that the European Union law forced Egypt's Misr Insurance Company to stop providing insurance to EgyptAir's flights to and from Russia. "Due to this, EgyptAir tried to seek alternative insurance from Russian companies, but they declined on the grounds that they cannot cover non-Russian airlines," said El-Fiqi, adding that "in the end, EgyptAir asked the government to allow the Ministry of Finance give it the insurance guarantee necessary to help it operate flights to and from Russian airports."<br/>