July 20 (UPI) -- British Airways and Lufthansa said Saturday ithey suspended flights to Cairo as a security precaution.
The British Airways announced at 5:42 p.m. a seven-day stoppage of flights to the Egyptian capital. German carrier Lufthansa announced its cancellations later Saturday and said flights would resume Sunday.
"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," a British Airways statement said. "The safety and security of our customers and crew is always our priority, and we would never operate an aircraft unless it was safe to do so."
A Cairo International Airport spokesman told the BBC that British Airways had not yet notified the facility of the changes.
Related
Though the airline did not specify what the security issue was, the British government has advised travelers to take the matter seriously.
"There's a heightened risk of terrorism against aviation," the British government said. "Additional security measures are in place for flights departing from Egypt to the United Kingdom. You should cooperate fully with security officials at airports."
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office further advised against all travel to the North Sinai Governorate and all but essential travel to most of South Sinai, Sharm el-Sheikh and the area west of the Nile Valley.
"Terrorists are very likely to carry out attacks on Egypt," the government said. "Although most attacks occur in North Sinai, there is a risk of terrorist attacks across the country."
Some 415,000 British nationals visited Egypt in 2018, most of which were "trouble free," the government added.
BBC Afrique reported that all other airlines that use the airport were operating normally.
Britain was among multiple carriers that previously temporarily suspended travel to and from Egypt after a bomb explosion on Oct. 31, 2015, caused a plane headed to St. Petersburg, Russia to crash over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula after it departed Sharm el-Sheikh airport, killing all 224 people aboard.
