EasyJet suspends flights to Sharm until next year

EasyJet has announced today that its flights to Sharm el-Sheikh will remain suspended until January 6.

It said it had taken the decision to provide some certainty to passengers due to travel over the Christmas holidays.

Other airlines, including Thomson, Thomas Cook and Monarch, have suspended flights until next month.

Thomson has suspended flights up to December 9 but it is also offering passengers due to travel up to and including December 31 the option to switch to another holiday departing before April 30 next year.

Thomas Cook has suspended flights to Sharm until December 10 and it is giving customers due to travel up to and including December 16 the option to switch to another holiday but booking conditions for the rest of December, including the Christmas period, remain unchanged pending further advice from the Foreign Office.

The UK government has yet to indicate when it will lift a ban on passenger flights between the UK and the Red Sea resort following the bombing of a Russian airliner on October 31.

Monarch revealed last week in an interview with TravelMole that it will take a couple of weeks to relaunch flights once the government does give the go-ahead to airlines to resume services.

And chief commercial officer Adrian Tighe said the airline would initially operate a reduced schedule until passenger traffic picks up again.

At the time, he said the Department for Transport had given no indication of when it might be safe for passenger flights to resume.

Monarch is currently giving flight-only passengers due to travel up to December 19 and from January 8 to March 11 the option to cancel flights with a full refund, re-book for another destination or receive a flight credit with an additional 10%. Normal booking conditions apply outside these dates.

Those who have booked packages or accommodation only can cancel with a full refund or switch to an alternative holiday and pay any difference in price.

EasyJet said this morning that it still had no further information from the DfT. Its spokesperson added: "Following discussions with the DfT, easyJet took the decision to suspend all flying between the UK and Sharm el Sheikh after Wednesday 4 November and won’t resume flights to Sharm until the Government’s advice changes.
 
"To help provide some certainty for passengers over the Christmas period easyJet will be cancelling all flights to and from Sharm el Sheikh until 6 January 2016 and offering our passengers the choice of a full refund, a flight voucher or a flight to another destination within the easyJet network (such as The Canary Islands)."

UK and US investigators are continuing to assist the Russians and Egyptian experts examining the wreckage of the Metrojet flight that crashed shortly after taking off from Sharm, and yesterday it was revealed that the  bomb that brought it down twas placed under seat 30 or 31A, towards the back of the A321 aircraft.

Investigators say a 15-year old girl was in one of the two seats, while a 77-year -old woman occupied the other.

Both were Russian tourists who were returning to St Petersburg after a holiday in Sharm el-Sheikh.

Investigators said the bomb, which went off with the force of a kilo of TNT, could have been placed under the seat where the life vest is usually stored.

It blew a hole in the rear of the Metrojet plane, causing it to crash in North Sinai, killing all 224 onboard.

Islamic terror group IS has since claimed responsibility for the bomb and Moscow has offered €50 million reward for information.