By Hend Kortam

CAIRO, Dec. 7 (Aswat Masriya) – Egypt opened a museum at Cairo International Airport on Monday evening, an inauguration that had been postponed in the aftermath of the Russian passenger plane crash in the Sinai desert in October.

The museum includes 38 artifacts selected from different Egyptian museums, including the Museum of Islamic Arts and the Coptic Museum, a statement by the ministry of antiquities said last week.

Egypt’s Civil Aviation Minister Hossam Kamal and Antiquities Minister Mamdouh el-Damaty were at the inauguration ceremony.

Kamal said the museum is a new addition to the airport, which is considered Egypt’s “first gate” for visitors and expatriates.

He believes the museum will make them eager to learn the “secrets of the Egyptian civilisation” and all it has to offer, such as distinct places and historic museums dating back to various civilisations and cultures. 

The museum will represent Egypt’s Pharaonic civilisation, making Pharaonic Egypt the first and last image that visitors see in Egypt, Kamal said.

Kamal said he hoped the museum would be a new way to promote tourism and attract tourists, especially ones who stop in Cairo during layovers, encouraging them to visit Cairo and understand its ancient civilisation.  

Egyptian tourism was slowly inching towards recovery when, on Oct. 31, a charter flight operated by Russian airline Metrojet broke up midair 23 minutes after takeoff from Sharm el-Sheikh airport as it headed to St. Petersburg, killing all 224 passengers and crew on board.

Egypt's most active militant group in North Sinai, Sinai Province, an affiliate of ISIS, claimed responsibility for downing the plane twice.

Although Egypt is still running an investigation, the Kremlin announced the results of its own investigation, saying it was an act of terrorism that brought the plane down as it found traces of "foreign-made explosives."

The incident put Egyptian airport security under scrutiny in the international press and Egypt fears that the ramifications of the crash will be bad news for its struggling tourism sector, a vital source of much-needed hard currency.

Egypt’s tourism minister said last month that he expects the number of tourists to drop by 13 percent in 2015/2016, compared to the year before, reaching 9 million tourists and revenues to fall by 15 percent. 

If the airport museum is a successful tourist attraction, more spaces inside the museum may be used to display artifacts, minister Kamal said. He added that the possibility of setting up similar museums in Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada would also be considered.