British Tourists moved back home after Egypt plane

Zaazou said Russian and British holidaymakers accounted for two-thirds of tourist traffic to Sharm al-Sheikh, while Russians alone made up half the tourists in Egypt’s other main Red Sea destination, Hurghada.

The visit was el-Sissi’s first to Sharm el-Sheikh since the crash on October 31, and came as his government has faced criticism for failing to release information about the Egyptian-led investigation and for downplaying the possibility that the plane was brought down by a bomb.

Many of those on the Thomson flight had travelled to Sharm el-Sheikh last Monday, just two days after a passenger plane crashed shortly after take off from the Egyptian capital, killing everyone on board.

On November 6, Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed with recommendations of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee to suspend air service with Egypt until the causes of the A321 plane crash were identified.

Many Russian tour operators are facing bankruptcy over refunds to tens of thousands of tourists.

For now, the most likely scenario is that jihadists planted a bomb with a timer on the plane by someone who had access rather than a passenger sneaking it through the security system, three US officials familiar with the latest intelligence analysis told CNN.

A Fife Council employee whose long-awaited trip to Sharm el Sheikh was cancelled the day before she and her partner were due to fly out says she is disappointed.

Security officials at Sharm el-Sheikh airport told The Associated Press there have always been security gaps there, including a key baggage scanning device that often is not functioning and lax searches at an entry gate for food and fuel for the planes.

Speaking to a correspondent for television channel Al-Nahar, he said, “I don’t want the Egyptian people to worry”. No NTSB personnel are in Egypt to assist authorities there, the spokesman said. That will allow time for a team of United Kingdom aviation experts, now travelling to Sharm, to make an assessment of the security arrangements in place at the airport and to identify whether any further action is required. Last year, 9.9 million tourists visited the country although that was significantly less than the 14.7 million who came in 2010.

Western officials have privately voiced concerns that Egypt might try to cover up the true cause of the crash in order to protect its tourism industry.

Everyone applauded when the pilot said “we are safely back in Britain”.

She praised the Government for stopping Brits travelling to Egypt, saying: “David Cameron gets a few things wrong but I think he got this right”.