Thomas Cook to send just one flight out of Sharm el-Sheikh today, as more than 12,000 Brits thought to remain
More than 12,000 Brits are still thought to be in holiday resort Sharm el-Sheikh, nearly a week after the UK government imposed a ban on flights coming in and out of the region following the weekend's Metrojet crash.
Around 20,000 British nationals were left stranded, of which 9,000 were thought to be holidaymakers. The decision was taken as evidence surfaced suggesting that the plane had been brought down by a bomb, killing all 224 people on board.
Repatriation flights were allowed to start on Friday, although many of these were stymied after Egyptian authorities imposed their own ban, citing "logistical issues".
By Monday evening, 7,473 people had been brought back through "rescue flights" put on by providers including Thomas Cook, EasyJet, Monarch and British Airways.
According to foreign secretary Philip Hammond, more Russians have left Sharm el-Sheikh than Brits because "the Russians, as far as I'm aware, have not insisted on the additional security measures we have imposed".
He said he expected "the backlog" to have cleared by the end of this week. "In the circumstances, the repatriation is going smoothly."
Today Thomas Cook said it had scheduled just one flight out of Sharm el-Sheikh, leaving at 5:25pm for Manchester.
Yesterday the holiday group said it was extending its cancellation of all holidays and flights into the destination until 25 November at the earliest. It had originally planned to reinstate holidays from 12 November.