EgyptAir Flight from Paris to Cairo ‘Most Likely Crashed’

Are you a family member of a passenger on board the missing plane? The hotline numbers are: 080077770000 for any family members using a landline in Egypt and+20225989320 for anyone abroad or in Egypt using a mobile phone.

Key points:

** EgyptAir flight MS804 crashed while travelling from Paris to Cairo, dropping off the radar around 10 miles after entering Egyptian airspace

** No wreckage has been found

** French President Hollande confirmed the airplane crashed and then ‘disappeared’

** Greece’s Minister of Defence says the airplane made sudden swerves and plunged before dropping off radars

** Airbus has confirmed the ‘loss’ of MS804. MS804 had approximately 48,000 flight hours

** The pilot had more than 6,000 hours of flight experience, say airline officials

** Plane was carrying 66 people. 30 passengers are from Egypt and 15 are from France. The rest of the nationalities include two from Iraq and one each from the United Kingdom, Belgium, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Chad, Portugal, Algeria, and Canada.

** Search and rescue teams are searching for any wreckage and survivors

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An EgyptAir plane, flight MS804, ‘disappeared from radar’ on a flight between France and Egypt just 10 miles after entering Egyptian airspace, confirmed EgyptAir.

The flight from Paris to Cairo was carrying 56 passengers and 10 crew members. The passengers included two infants and one child, said EgyptAir in a statement. An EgyptAir Civil Aviation Ministry official said that the airplane most likely crashed.

According to a statement by EgyptAir, the plane disappeared from radar at 02:30AM Cairo time. The airplane was flying at 37,000 feet when it disappeared approximately 10 miles in Egyptian airspace. Flight Radar appears to show the airplane losing communication with radar tracking off the coast of Egypt.

Meanwhile, Greece’s Minister of Defense announced that the airplane plunged 22,000 feet and made sudden swerves before disappearing. The plane swerved 90 degrees left and then 360 degrees right prior to dropping off all radars, said the Defense Minister.

The pilot of the aircraft had 6,275 hours of flight time, of which 2,101 were on the same model of aircraft, said EgyptAir. The co-pilot had recorded 2,766 hours of flight time. The aircraft was manufactured in 2003, added EgyptAir.

EgyptAir said it is in contact with concerned authorities and bodies, adding that inspection is underway by rescue teams. The weather at the time of the disappearance was clear and there were no distress calls made by the pilot, said an official to CNN and Sky News Arabia.

According to military sources, Egypt and Greece have deployed military aircraft in a search and rescue operation.

Meanwhile, state media Ahram stated that the Minister of Civil Aviation has cut his visit to Saudi Arabia short, returning to Cairo to follow up on the case of the missing plane.

This is the second airplane incident involving EgyptAir in 2016. In March 2016, an EgyptAir plane was hijacked and forced to land in Cyprus by an Egyptian who allegedly wanted to visit his ex-wife and children in Cyprus.

Meanwhile, in November 2015, a Russian airplane, flight Kogalymavia 9268, crashed in Egypt’s North Sinai in a terrorism-related incident that killed all 224 passengers on board.

Days prior to today’s incident, EgyptAir launched a campaign to promote tourism in Egypt by offering discounts of up to 50 percent on airplane tickets during the summer season. Just an hour before the EgyptAir flight MS804 disappeared, EgyptAir’s Twitter account posted a discount of 25 percent for tickets between 22 May and 20 June. EgyptAir faced significant struggles following the 2011 revolution, which saw a slump in tourism to Egypt.

In December 2014, EgyptAir, which employs 850 pilots, announced that it had accumulated EGP 10.11 billion in losses over a three year period.