Transavia: Too dangerous for crews to overnight in Egypt

Airline Transavia no longer allows its crew members to sleep over in Egypt because they feel its too dangerous. The airline therefore added an extra stopover in Athens, Greece to replace the crew, increasing the travel time between the Netherlands and Egypt with several hours, AD reports. The flight crew is replaced with a new crew in Athens. The new crew flies back to the Netherlands on the same day. The first crew overnights in the Greek capital. According to the airline, this decision has nothing to do with the government's travel advice for Egypt, but on their own assessment. A terrorist attack in whic three people were killed at a tourist hotel in Hurghada on January 8th played a part in the decision. "Since the last incident in Hurghada we have insufficient insight on the safety situation. That is why we are not allowing our people to overnight", a spokesperson for the airline said to the newspaper. Zakaraia Boufangacha, director of union FNV Aviation, told the newspaper that the safety of staff members in Egypt has been on airlines' agendas for some time. According to him, it is not unusual for flight schedules to be adjusted for this reason. Not all companies are taking action. TUI, which also flies to Egypt, is letting its staff overnight in the country. "It would be strange if we were to say that it is too dangerous for our staff, while we let our customers sleep there."