Minister of Tourism Khaled El-Enani and Minister of Civil Aviation Mohamed Manar made the remarks in a meeting on Thursday.

The ministers agreed in principle that the new air service, halted since 2015, will include one weekly flight, a statement by the Ministry of Civil Aviation read.

The authorities will determine the best timing for the new service’s weekly flight based on the visitors’ tourist programs and in a way that enables them to enjoy Luxor, according to the statement.

The new service will allow visitors to tour Luxor, visit its museums and archaeological sites, ride horse-drawn carriages, make Nile cruises, enjoy the city’s charming atmosphere, and visit traditional markets offering heritage products and handicrafts.

The new service is part of efforts to integrate leisure and cultural tourism and allow visitors to enjoy several tourist attractions during their visit to Egypt, the statement read.

This comes through linking the Nile Valley cities with other coastal tourist cities via domestic flight services, the statement said.

The air service between the two cities will be launched as per the request of the private tourism sector, the Egyptian Tourism Federation, and the Egyptian Travel Agents Association.

The meeting also discussed operating other flights connecting airports in all tourist governorates, according to the statement.

The ministers also coordinated to increase the number of flights on 21 October due to demand to visit Aswan’s Abu Simbel temple to watch the solar alignment.

Egypt also plans over the coming years to establish a high-speed railway line connecting the Red Sea’s Hurghada and Safaga with Upper Egypt’s Qena and Luxor.

Another line will link the Sixth of October City in Giza with Luxor and Aswan.

Two million people work in Egypt’s tourism sector, which represents a big part of the national economy and is a main source of hard currency for the country.

In June 2020, Egypt resumed international flights after a three-month-suspension due to pandemic, opening its major tourist attractions amid strict coronavirus measures.

The country announced earlier this year that it had vaccinated all workers in the tourism sector in its Red Sea resorts, with vaccination efforts for tourism workers in Luxor and Aswan ongoing.