Lift ban on direct British flights to Red Sea resort, Egyptian ambassador urges

BRITAIN should lift its ban on direct flights to the popular tourist resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, the Egyptian ambassador to the UK Government has said.

Tarek Adel said that he hoped flights to the Red Sea resort would “restart soon” from Britain.

It comes after a ban was imposed in November 2015 following the crash of a Russian Metrojet Airbus A320 shortly after take-off from Sharm el-Sheikh.

More than 220 passengers and crew were killed on the flight to St Petersburg and it was widely believed the plane was taken down by an explosive device planted on board at the airport.

Egyptian authorities admitted at the time that measures could be improved and pledged to work with British secu- rity specialists. Mr Adel said in the BBC interview: “British direct flights to Sharm el-Sheikh have been suspended since November 2015 and since that date we have been working very closely with British technical and security teams to upgrade the facilities in Egyptian airports in general and Sharm el-Sheikh in particular.

“We have concluded the work in this regard and that was in close co-ordination with the British technical teams and we are set to be ready to receive once again direct flights from Britain.”

Although direct flights have been banned from the UK, there is no ban on travel to the resort itself, which is popular with British holidaymakers.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said that around 319,000 British citizens visited Egypt in 2017 and most were trouble free. The figure dropped from 2015 when almost 900,000 people visited the resort. However, the FCO is still advising against “all but essential travel” to Sharm el-Sheikh.

In November 2016, more than 30 travel companies called on the Government to announce when it would resume flights, amid concerns the ban was damaging the country’s tourism industry and their businesses.

A spokesman for The Department for Transport said: “The security of British nationals is our top priority. We continue to work closely with the Egyptian authorities on aviation security, regularly reviewing our decision and look forward to being in a position to allow the resumption of flights once the circumstances allow this.”