Britons land in Sharm el Sheikh as 5-year flight restriction lifted

One of the first flights from the UK to Sharm el Sheikh has landed after restrictions on flying to the Egyptian resort were lifted.

British tourists on the TUI flight from Gatwick were greeted by celebrations, with fire engines jetting water over the top of the aircraft and a reception featuring flowers, music and cocktails.

Flights between the UK and Sharm el Sheikh were halted in November 2015 after a bomb blew up on a Russian airliner shortly after take-off from Sharm el Sheikh airport, killing all 224 people on board.

The Department for Transport lifted the restrictions in October, saying there had been "improvements in security procedures" and "close co-operation between our aviation security experts and their Egyptian counterparts".

The bombing had forced the UK to repatriate about 16,000 tourists in 2015 as the airport's security procedures were considered high risk.

TUI, the UK's biggest travel company, said last year it would be resuming flights to the Egyptian resort this month.

Rival company Easyjet also said it would be restarting flights to Sharm el Sheikh.

The airline said two flights a week would depart from Manchester from 7 June, while flights from Gatwick will begin on 30 September.

The ban had sparked a steep decline in UK visitors to the region, which had previously seen hundreds of thousands of British tourists each year.

Tourists were forced to either take multiple flights or a ferry from Hurghada to visit the Red Sea destination.

It was one of the factors which led to the collapse of airline Monarch in October 2017.