Russian Minister of Transport Maxim Sokolov announced on Friday that five weekly flights between Egypt and Russia will be operational once commercial air services between the two countries resume, Russian news agency TASS reported.

Sokolov added that the five flights are just an initial plan, as talks are still underway, and the number is subject to change depending on passenger demand.

Two of the initial flights will be launched by Russian national airline Aeroflot, while the other three will be launched by Egyptian national airline EgyptAir.

A high-level delegation from Russia's State Civil Aviation Authority visited Egypt in late January to inspect security procedures at Cairo International Airport prior to the planned resumption of direct flights between Moscow and Cairo.

According to Sokolov, flights between Egypt and Russia may resume this month.

"The question about an exact date should be forwarded to the air carriers, they need to assess the passenger traffic, choose suitable dates and acquire slots at airports. Judicial issues are being looked into, and we don’t currently see any obstacles that could prevent them from being resolved by mid-February," TASS quoted Sokolov.

In December, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a decree to resume commercial air traffic between the two countries' capitals, after flights had been banned since 2015 after the crash of a Russian flight in Sinai.

Egypt has since boosted security procedures at many of its airports in response to Russian security conditions for lifting the flight ban.

In January, Aeroflot announced that direct flights to Cairo would resume on 3 February, however, this was postponed for one week after the company failed to provide online booking for flights to Cairo on its website, according to several Egyptian media outlets who cited sources at Cairo International Airport.