News Analysis: EgyptAir's hijack may overshadow Cairo's efforts to revive tourism

The hijack of EgyptAir's plane Tuesday is likely to negatively affect Egypt's efforts to revive its ailing tourism industry despite the fact that the incident seems to be unrelated to terrorism while all passengers were released unharmed.

Egyptian Seif-Eddin Mostafa, 59, hijacked an EgyptAir Airbus 320 as it took off from Borg al-Arab airport in Alexandria en route to Cairo airport after threatening the crew with a fake explosive belt and forced them to land in Cyprus's Larnaca airport.

"In fact, it was not a terrorist act at all. Nonetheless, it will leave a negative impression about Egypt's air navigation safety and security although there was no security shortfall by Egyptian authorities," Bashir Abdel-Fattah, political expert and researcher at the Cairo-based Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, told Xinhua.

Abdel-Fattah explained that the incident was most likely caused by the man's psychological state as he wanted to go to Cyprus to see his ex-wife and daughters but couldn't get a visa.

Over the last few years, Egypt has suffered from a stagnant tourism industry, a main source of its national income, due to political turmoil, and recently the Russian plane crash in Sinai which killed over 200 individuals last year, in addition to an Italian student's ambiguous death in Cairo last month.

The incident "will inadvertently negatively affect Egypt's attempts to revive tourism and foreign investment until the international community realizes that it was completely unrelated to terrorism," Abdel-Fattah explained, citing the example of Russia's initial response of not resuming its suspended flights to Egypt.

Egyptian TV showed the video where the hijacker was thoroughly checked at Alexandria's airport after passing through the security screening machine along with all the other flight passengers, and no explosives or prohibited items were found in his possession.

"Egypt's airport security is not to blame in this case and it is very difficult - if not impossible - to infiltrate Egyptian airport security," said Abdel-Latif al-Bedaini, security expert and ex-assistant interior minister, noting that the probe into the Russian plane crash is still ongoing and that the explosive device used in the crash might not have been planted in Egypt.

Bedaini, who worked in Cairo's airport security for 20 years, told Xinhua that there are four areas where passengers are checked in Egyptian airports, using both manual and electronic checking methods, arguing that the country's airport security in is one of the best worldwide.

"The fake explosive belt is a clear testament that airport security was not infiltrated," the security expert continued, praising the "professional" response of EgyptAir's crew towards the hijacker and their efforts to ensure the safety of the passengers, among whom 21 are non-Egyptians.

Egyptian official reports confirm that the hijacking was "not terrorist-related" and that the hijacker was "a fraud and a charlatan" who will be sued.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement Tuesday that the man has a Cypriot ex-wife and was previously sentenced to one year in jail but escaped prison during the 2011 political turmoil until returning to prison in January 2014 and then was released in January 2015.

"Having a criminal record without being wanted in an ongoing lawsuit does not ban a person from traveling," security expert and retired police general, Salah Samak, told Xinhua, noting the flight was a domestic one in the first place.

Samak stressed that the case does not include any security-related errors, referring to the swift and efficient response of the concerned authorities and officials.

Since the 2011 uprising which toppled former president Hosni Mubarak Egypt has undergone an economic recession due to a deteriorating tourism industry and a lack of foreign investments, causing the country's foreign currency reserves at the central bank to plummet from 36 billion U.S. dollars back then to 16.5 billion today.

"Today's hijacking may affect tourism-related investments, however with respect to other investments, such as imports and exports, I believe they won't be affected," said Sameh Mostafa Zaki, board member of Cairo's Chamber of Commerce and deputy chairman of the chamber's exports department.

The economist believes the issues won't harm the country's tourism or investments in general since the hijacking was unrelated to terrorism and the hijacker was diagnosed as psychologically unstable.

Late on Tuesday, all of EgyptAir's Airbus 320 passengers and crew have arrived at Cairo airport later tonight to reunite with their family members waiting at the airport for their arrival. Endit