Egypt’s parliament has passed a government-drafted law on providing insurance to state-owned EgyptAir to ease difficulties faced by the national airline amid the Russia-Ukraine war.
The law, which was approved by the house’s budget committee recently, allows the finance minister to provide EgyptAir with an insurance guarantee covering risks – such as war and hijacking – that it might face due to operating flights to and from Russia, according to a report on the online edition of the daily newspaper Al-Ahram.
The report added that EgyptAir had stopped its flights to Russia from 2 March due to the EU sanctions.
The house’s budget committee chairman Fakhri El-Fiqi said the EU’s sanctions on Russia had forced Egypt’s Misr Insurance Company to stop providing insurance to EgyptAir’s flights to and from Russia.
“EgyptAir tried to seek alternative insurance from Russian companies, but they declined on the grounds that they cannot cover non-Russian airlines … 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,” said Mr El-Fiqi.
The budget committee’s report said the passed law is in line with Article 127 of Egypt’s constitution. The law also states that the insurance guarantee will begin from the date the law goes into effect and remain in effect for two years, or when the cabinet declares it concluded. The amount of the insurance cover was not revealed. M