Egypt’s el-Sisi avoids Turkish airspace with huge U-turn

ISTANBUL

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s official plane has used an unusual flight route on its way back home from Russia as it avoided flying over Turkish airspace, the website airporthaber.com reported on Aug. 13.

After meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Sochi, el-Sisi boarded the Airbus 340-200 owned by the Egyptian government, which was scheduled to fly to Cairo. After the decision to avoid Turkish airspace, the pilot also had to avoid Ukrainian airspace due to the ongoing clashes that saw Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 shot down over Eastern Ukraine. As a result, the plan flew to Egypt via Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece.

Similar to Ukraine, Iraqi and Syrian airspaces are also not considered safe due to the ongoing conflicts that are occurring in both countries. 

However, the avoidance of Turkish airspace is more likely to be linked with the ongoing diplomatic crisis between Cairo and Ankara.