Egypt has hired global consultancy Control Risks to review security at its airports after the crash of a plane carrying Russian tourists that killed all 224 aboard and damaged the country's tourism industry.

Egypt said this month it had found no evidence so far of terrorism or other illegal action linked to the October crash, but Russia said in November that the jet was brought down by a bomb.

Islamic State, the militant group that has seized swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria, claimed responsibility and said it had smuggled a bomb on board hidden in a soft drink can.

The crash in the Sinai Peninsula hit Egypt's tourism sector hard, with some airlines suspending flights to Sharm el-Sheikh, the Red Sea resort where the flight departed.

The security review, announced at a news conference by Tourism Minister Hisham Zaazou, Civil Aviation Minister Hossam Kamal and Control Risks regional chief executive Andreas Carleton-Smith, aims to help restore confidence and revive tourism, a key foreign currency earner for cash-strapped Egypt.

(Reuters)