Egypt’s flagship airliner EgyptAir signed on Tuesday an agreement with Prime Tours, the authorised sub-agent of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia,to facilitate air travel to Russia for Egyptian fans looking to attend the 2018 World Cup.

EgyptAir chairman Safwat Mosallam signed the agreement with Tamer Wageeh, chairman of Prime Tours, which is the Exclusive Sales Agent of MATCH Hospitality under FIFA’s Official Hospitality Programme.

“The important step of flight resumption between Egypt and Russia had to be followed with a major event that represents Egypt’s name and its participation in the [2018 World Cup] in Russia,” Mosallam said, adding that his company is keen on supporting fans looking to attend the games.

Prime Tours head Wageeh expressed his pride in the bilateral cooperation between EgyptAir and his company, especially after a successful year of Egypt being home to the company’s Tour’N’Cure campaign, where several international celebrities travelled to Cairo to promote medical tourism in treating Hepatitis C.

“The main goal of this partnership is to offer the chance for the biggest number of Egyptian fans to accomplish their dream of rooting for their national team for the first time in 28 years,” he said.

Last October, Egypt secured a World Cup berth after a 28-year absence when a stoppage-time penalty from Liverpool star Mohamed Salah gave them a 2-1 win over Congo in a nerve-racking affair.

Besides exclusive hospitality packages, Prime Tours is offering separate packages for every game the national team will be playing in Group A, which has seen the Pharaohs paired with Saudi Arabia, hosts Russia, and South American powerhouse Uruguay.

Each package is divided depending on the tickets of the class, with tickets prices starting at $595 (approximately EGP 10,519).

Tuesday’s partnership comes as Egypt expects a resumption of flights with Russia in February, nearly two years after Russia banned commercial flights with Egypt in November 2015 after the deadly crash of a Russian airliner over Egypt’s Sharm El-Sheikh, which killed all 224 passengers on board.

Last week, a high-level delegation from Russia's State Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA) inspected security measures at Cairo International Airport prior to the planned resumption of flights between Cairo and Moscow.

Egypt has been implementing tighter security measures in its airports to meet Russian demands on security, with the aim of restoring Russian visitors to boost its tourism industry.

In December, Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to resume commercial air traffic between the two countries' capitals. 

In January, Russian flagship airliner Aeroflot announced the resumption of direct flights with Cairo on 3 February.