Sharm el-Sheikh tourists should be back in UK by the end of the week, says Foreign Secretary

Philip Hammond says there is still a backlog of flights

Passengers check monitors as flights to Sharm el-Sheikh appear as cancelled at Pulkovo airport in St. Petersburg, Russia on 7 November (EPA)

All British tourists stranded in Sharm el-Sheikh should have been returned to the UK by the end of this week, the Foreign Secretary has said.

Philip Hammond told Sky News that extra security on UK-bound flights from Egypt meant clearing the backlog would take some time.

“We have imposed some very significant increased security requirements for flights to the UK out of Sharm,” he told the news channel.

“That has caused some delays and some backups. By tonight I think we will have about 7,000 British citizens returned to the UK. By the end of this week we expect to have cleared the backlog.”

While rescue flights are taking UK nationals home, flights to the Egyptian resort to Egypt remain suspended.

Britain believes a Russian airliner which crashed on 31 October was downed by an explosive device and that terror groups are targeting air travel in the country.

Foreign secretary Philip Hammond (PA)

US officials say they are “99.9 per cent sure” that plane was downed by a deliberately planted bomb.

Russia has also now suspended flights to the country and is in a similar predicament, with thousands of stranded Russian nationals being evacuated from the country. Egypt is a popular destination for Russian tourists, with over three million visitors a year from the country.

A Downing Street spokesperson last week said “normal service” on the popular tourist air route would resume as soon as was possible.

“Outbound flights from the UK to Sharm el-Sheikh remain suspended and the Foreign Office continues to advise against all but essential travel by air to or from Sharm el-Sheikh airport,” the spokesperson said.

“But we are continuing to work with the Egyptians to get back to normal service as soon as possible.”