Egypt’s Sharm Welcomes First UK Flights since 2015 Plane Crash

Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh has welcomed the first British charter flights since the 2015 Russian airliner crash.

Britain halted flights to Sharm el-Sheikh following the incident, which killed all 224 people on board the plane that took off from the resort, long popular with British tourists.

After multiple airport inspections and visits by aviation security experts, Britain announced in October that it was lifting the flight restrictions.

“Sharm el-Sheikh airport received the first two direct charter flights… from London’s Gatwick airport carrying 184 passengers and Manchester airport carrying 190 passengers,” Egypt’s civil aviation ministry said in a statement late Sunday.

The flights were operated by Britain’s biggest travel agency, TUI.

The company has scheduled three flights a week between London’s Gatwick Airport and Sharm el-Sheikh until late March, the statement said, according to AFP.

British budget airline easyJet said in January it would restart flights to the resort town in June.

On Sunday, flag carrier EgyptAir said it would start operating a weekly flight between London and Sharm el-Sheikh later this month.

British tourists have long been vital to the tourism industry in Sharm el-Sheikh, which was left reeling after the crash.

Russia, another major source of tourists to Egypt, initially suspended all direct flights to the North African country following the incident.

It resumed direct flights to Cairo in 2018 but has yet to restart them to popular Red Sea resorts.