British Airways, Lufthansa suspend Cairo flights

British Airways and Lufthansa both said on Saturday they were suspending flights to Cairo for unspecified reasons related to safety and security.

The British carrier said it was canceling flights to the Egyptian capital for a week. The German airline said normal operations would resume Sunday.

Both carriers delivered two-sentence statements via email.

TRT World spoke to Alex Macheras, aviation expert, for his analysis.

British Airways attributed its cancellations to what it called its constant review of security arrangements at all airports, calling them "a precaution to allow for further assessment."

Lufthansa said it was suspending its flights as a precaution, mentioning "safety" but not "security" as its concern.

Company spokespeople would not elaborate on what motivated the suspensions.

They come as Britain weighs its response to Iran's seiure Friday of a British-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz and rising tensions stemming from US sanctions' effect on Iran's economy and oil exports.

The strait and Cairo are separated by 2,500 kilometers.

Lufthansa spokesman Tal Muscal said the company has two flights a day to Cairo, one each from Frankfurt and Munich.

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 jet, which killed all 224 people on boar d shortly after takeoff.

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 jet, which killed all 224 people on boar d shortly after takeoff.

That attack, which was claimed by Daesh, 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.