Sharm el Sheikh: EasyJet axes all flights to Egypt's leading holiday resort

British Airways has extended its cancellations for even longer, with no departures planned until 16 January

Easyjet has cancelled all flights to the Red Sea resort up to and including 6 January (PA)

Egypt’s leading holiday resort will be a no-go zone until January at the earliest for Britain’s biggest budget airline, easyJet. It has cancelled all flights to the Red Sea resort up to and including 6 January. The airline said it had made the decision: “To help provide some certainty for our customers’ travel arrangements over the Christmas period.”

British Airways has extended its cancellations for even longer, with no departures planned until 16 January.

The Foreign Office imposed a ban on UK airlines flying in and out of Sharm el Sheikh three weeks ago, because of concerns about security at the resort’s airport. It followed the downing of a holiday flight from Sharm el Sheikh to St Petersburg in the Sinai desert with the loss of all 224 people on board. The Russian government says a bomb was planted on the Airbus while it was on the ground at the resort’s airport

Security officials screen luggage at Sharm el-Sheikh Airport (AP)

Holidaymakers were brought home on a series of rescue flights, on which passengers were banned from taking luggage, which was flown back separately.

But tens of thousands of British travellers have trips booked to Sharm el Sheikh through the winter season with no certainty about whether the Foreign Office advice will be lifted, allowing the trips to go ahead.

On 24 November Thomson, the UK’s largest tour operator, said customers with holidays in the resort booked up to the end of the year could “amend their booking to any holiday departing by the end of April 2016, without incurring an amendment fee”. Yet the company is selling holidays to Sharm el Sheikh departing as early as 10 December.

Its rival, Thomas Cook, is cutting prices sharply for holidays in Hurghada, across the Gulf of Suez. This resort is unaffected by the Foreign Office advice. On 11 December, Thomas Cook is offering a week in an all-inclusive resort in Hurghada for £233 including flights from Gatwick, checked baggage and transfers.