KLM, the flag carrier of the Netherlands, has announced a suspension of flights to Cairo set to take place beginning of January.
The royal Dutch airlines suspension falls back on economic reasons, namely Egypt's foreign currency problem.
“The devaluation of the Egyptian pound and the decision of the Central Bank of Egypt to impose restrictions on the transfer of foreign currency out of Egypt have a negative impact on results of KLM,” said the company in a statement .
For months, Egypt has been faced with an acute dollar shortage, lacking sufficient supply of US dollars for use in international trade. In turn, companies have been faced with challenges in transferring money abroad, "with many waiting in lengthy queues for allocations from the country's central bank and others resorting to an expensive black market for dollars that cuts into profits," according to Reuters .
The airline will re-book tickets for all passengers with reservations to travel from Amsterdam to Cairo following the suspension date (Jan 8).
However, Air France, a subsidiary of Air France-KLM, will continue operations in the Egyptian capital, with six weekly flights out of Paris.
Earlier in August, the International Air Transport Association warned Egypt that blocking the "release of hundreds of millions of dollars owed to foreign airlines" threatens its own aviation industry.
Egypt owes $250 million worth of local ticket sales to international airlines, according to Gulf News .
Egypt's inability to transfer local sales revenue has also taken a toll on Emirates airline, ultimately driving it to an agreement "with the relevant authorities on a short-term financial scheme for remitting its residual revenues according to a timeline," according to Gulf News .
The United Kingdom imposed a ban on all flights to Egypt's Sharm El Sheikh last year, with British Airways abandoning all flights to the Egyptian hot spot "indefinitely."
The ban ultimately drove Egypt's tourism down, with an estimated loss of $176 million a month since the ban was imposed.