CAIRO- Egypt's national carrier EgyptAir Airlines said on Thursday that it will resume flights to 24 destinations from the first week of July and will add more in the following weeks.

The airline is seeking a 3 billion Egyptian pound ($186.10 million) loan to tide it over during the coronavirus crisis, which prompted Egypt to shut its airports from mid-march and ground almost all international flights.

The carrier will operate flights to 13 destinations in Europe, 3 in Africa, 4 in the Middle East, 3 in North America and one in China, it said in a statement on Thursday, as well as domestic flights to the tourist hotspots of Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada along the Red Sea and Luxor and Aswan along the Nile River.

EgyptAir is expected to operate at 20-30% capacity when it resumes flights at the beginning of July and at 50% by the end of the year, providing thagt coronavirus cases do not increase, the chairman of the state holding company that owns the airline said on June 17. ($1 = 16.1200 Egyptian pounds)

(Reporting by Nadine Awadalla;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle) ((Nadine.Awadalla@thomsonreuters.com;))