AVIATION: Emirates, Lufthansa, Air France avoid Sinai overflights

Gulf giant Emirates and two leading European airlines, Lufthansa and Air France, said they were rerouting flights over the Sinai desert where the Russian Metrojet Airbus crashed on Saturday morning, killing all 224 passengers and crew on board.

The airlines said they will wait for clear indication on what caused the Russian Airbus A321 to crash just after take-off from Sharm El Sheikh headed to St Petersburg.
Emirates’ low-cost subsidiary flydubai, as well as Air Arabia, also said they were diverting flights around the peninsula, despite official assurances in Egypt and Russia that an Islamic State claim for responsibility was false.
British Airways said is believed to be following a similar route along the Gulf of Suez.
Egyptian security sources were quoted as saying that initial examination suggested the crash of the aircraft operated by Kogalymavia could have been caused by a technical fault.
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a day of national mourning on Sunday as a large number of bodies recovered from the crash site were sent home to Russia. The flight also included three Ukrainians.
Cyprus Civil Aviation denied foreign press reports that the airliner was in Cyprus airspace when it lost contact with the radar.
Deputy Director of Civil Aviation Nicos Nicolaou said that the Airbus A-321 was not in Nicosia FIR but in the airspace of Egypt and was “too far away” for the Cyprus control tower.
Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades expressed his condolences and expressed “heartfelt condolences to all the Russian people, the families and friends of the victims of #7K9268 plane crash in Sinai.