British tourists arrive in Sharm el-Sheikh as the first flights from the UK to the Egyptian resort touch down following the lifting of restrictions
- Tui flight from Gatwick arrived in Sharm el-Sheikh and was greeted by cheers
- Tour operator has scheduled three flights a week to the resort until late March
- Flights between the UK and Sharm el-Sheikh were halted in November 2015
- It followed the bombing of a Russian airliner, which killed all 224 people on board
British tourists have arrived on one of the first flights from the UK to Sharm el-Sheikh since restrictions were lifted.
Flights between the UK and the Egyptian resort were halted in November 2015 following the bombing of a Russian airliner soon after take-off from Sharm el-Sheikh airport, which killed all 224 people on board.
A Tui flight from Gatwick arrived on Sunday and was greeted by celebrations.
British tourists have arrived on one of the first flights from the UK to Sharm el-Sheikh since restrictions were lifted. A Tui flight arrived on Sunday and was greeted by cheers
A passenger said the flight was met by fire engines jetting water over the top of the aircraft, before a reception featuring flowers, music and cocktails with local dignitaries.
The resumption of flights to Sharm el-Sheikh this month by Tui, the UK’s biggest travel company, was announced last year.
It has scheduled three flights a week between Gatwick and Sharm el-Sheikh until late March.
It came after the Department for Transport (DfT) lifted restrictions in October due to ‘improvements in security procedures’ and ‘close co-operation between our aviation security experts and their Egyptian counterparts’.
Passengers on the Tui flight from Gatwick to Sharm el-Sheikh were greeted with a reception featuring flowers, music and cocktails with local dignitaries
Hundreds of thousands of UK tourists went to the Red Sea destination each year before the ban on flights was introduced
One passenger on the Tui flight said it was met by fire engines jetting water over the top of the aircraft
Tui was believed to be the first major travel company to announce when it would resume flights.
Hundreds of thousands of UK tourists went to the Red Sea destination each year before the ban on flights was introduced.
The measure sparked a steep decline in UK visitors, as it forced them to either take multiple flights or a ferry from Hurghada.
It was one of the factors that led to the collapse of airline Monarch in October 2017.
In January, it was announced that easyJet would also resume flights to the resort.
The airline said two flights a week would be launched from Manchester from June 7, and flights from London Gatwick would begin on September 30.
On Sunday, flag carrier EgyptAir said it would start operating a weekly flight between London and Sharm el-Sheikh later this month.
Smaller firms and travel agents have also relaunched services to Sharm el-Sheikh.
Egypt’s tourism industry has shown signs of recovery in recent years with arrivals reaching 11.3 million in 2018, compared with 5.3 million in 2016. Pictured is one of the beaches in Sharm el-Sheikh
Russia, another major source of tourists to Egypt, initially suspended all direct flights to the North African country following the attack.
It resumed direct flights to Cairo in 2018 but has yet to restart them to popular Red Sea resorts.
Egypt’s tourism industry has shown signs of recovery in recent years with arrivals reaching 11.3 million in 2018, compared with 5.3 million in 2016.