EgyptAir Flight MS804 Goes Down Over Mediterranean

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EgyptAir Flight MS804 Goes Down Over Mediterranean

Communications with EgyptAir Flight MS804 were lost at just under 37,000 feet, 175 miles off the Egyptian coastline early this morning.

The A320 was en route from the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris to Cairo when it disappeared off the radar.

EgyptAir vice chairman Ahmed Abdel told cnn that no distress call was made and that the captain was well experienced, with over 6,000 flying hours. The aircraft was carrying 56 passengers and 10 crew, 15 of whom were French nationals.

French President François Hollande told the press that he had not ruled out any hypothesis regarding the nature of the plane’s demise. We have a duty to know everything about the causes of what happened,” said Hollande. “No hypothesis should be ruled out. Everything should be put at the disposal of the Greek and Egyptian authorities so that we can liaise with them. We have to send them ships and planes to find where the plane crashed, and to do whatever we can to collect the debris. That will allow us to find the truth.”

https://twitter.com/CNN/status/733269979630604288?s=09

Greek fighter jets as well as naval vessels in the region have been dispatched to try and locate the fallen airliner. By late afternoon local time, Greek authorities spotted two floating objects 50 miles southeast of the area where the plane disappeared. These may or many not be part of Flight MS804.

Meanwhile in Egypt, Cairo’s aviation minister, Sherif Fathy, has been trying to hold back speculation about the cause of the accident until the wreckage has been found and analyzed. Even so, he conceded, “If you analyze the situation properly, the possibility of having a terror attack is higher than the possibility of having a technical [problem].”

The incident comes almost seven months after a Russian plane was blown up over the skies of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. The person who allegedly planted the bomb was an EgyptAir mechanic with a cousin who was a member of the Islamic State in Syria.

For Egyptian President Fattah al-Sisi, the crash is a major blow. Still reeling from the downing of Russian Metrojet Flight 9268—which claimed the lives of all 224 on board—Sisi must now face more scrutiny of his ability to curtail terrorism. In late March, an Egyptian flight was hijacked and taken to Cyprus, increasing fears that Egypt’s lucrative tourist industry would take another hit.

Egypt’s Failing Tourism Sector

The downing of EgyptAir Flight MS804 makes three incidents in seven months. In a country so heavily reliant on tourism, with an economy that is already on the verge of collapse, these events are unsustainable. Ample proof shows that Egypt’s economy suffers with every downed flight or hijacking. Should this latest crash turn out to be a terrorist attack and not merely a case of engine failure, embarrassment could quickly turn to humiliation.

Along with the failing economy, every attack increases support for Sisi’s removal. Many see these terrorist attacks as proof of the president’s inability to protect the nation.

Following the bombing of the Russian flight on October 31, the Kremlin canceled all flights in and out of the Sinai, costing Egypt an estimated $250 million in revenue per month. The British also worked quickly to cancel all flights to the popular destination Sharm el-Sheikh as well, citing the terrorist threat.

In February, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics in the United Kingdom reported just 346,500 tourists visited Egypt—a drop of almost 46 percent over last year. Once-booming resorts like Sharm el-Sheikh are now ghost towns.

“There is a strong sense of inadequacy that is being enhanced regularly with regards to handling the tourism sector, which makes me believe it is unlikely to recover in 2016 and going into 2017,” Hany Farahat, a senior economist at CI Capital told the Wall Street Journal.

At one time, Egypt attracted over 15 million tourists each year. That number fell to under 10 million after the 2011 Arab Spring, and it has continued to slide ever since. Given that the tourism industry provides 6 percent of Egypt’s gross domestic product, with the sector employing over 1 million people, the Egyptian economy cannot handle any more downturns in traffic.

Recent history shows that Egyptian governments do not do well when the economy falters. The last democratically elected president of Egypt, Mohamed Morsi, was not ousted because of his Islamist leanings, but rather because he failed to address Egypt’s economic slump. The terrorist attacks and subsequent slump in tourist dollars entering the country will only enfeeble Sisi’s hold on power as well. To read the Trumpet’s long-view forecast of Egypt’s future, read “Iran-Egypt Alliance Prophesied.”


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