On an otherwise quiet summer evening on the airwaves last night, the Great Russian Return drove conversation: The nation’s talking heads fixated on the arrival of the first Moscow-Hurghada and Moscow-Sharm El Sheikh flights in six years, bringing more than 800 Russian tourists to Red Sea resorts. The Russian state aviation agency has given the greenlight to eight Russian airlines to operate five weekly flights to Hurghada and Sharm El Sheikh from 43 cities across Russia, while national carrier EgyptAir is set to operate four more weekly flights from Moscow to the two Red Sea resorts, Red Sea Governor Amr Hanafy told Ala Mas’ouleety’s Ahmed Moussa (watch, runtime 4:03).

Tourism Minister Khaled El Enany phoned into Al Hayah Al Youm to applaud the resumption of flights. The minister used the occasion to say that tourist receipts have more than doubled over the past five months and are on track to bounce back to pre-pandemic levels. Al Hayah Al Youm (watch, runtime: 11:21 | 5:36) and Masaa DMC (watch, runtime: 4:08) also had coverage.