Flights were suspended in November 2015 after a suspected bomb downed a Russian Metrojet aircraft shortly after taking off from Sharm. All 224 passengers and crew were killed.
Tarek Adel, Egyptian ambassador to the UK, told the BBC at the weekend Sharm was “ready to receive once again direct flights from Britain” following airport security upgrades.
However, LAH Travel owner Linda Hill Miller said she was not convinced about the reassurances over security at Sharm and would not feel confident sending clients there.
“I don’t think Brits should return to Sharm,” she said. “If I was offered a free trip, I wouldn’t go, so I wouldn’t send my customers there.”
She said a statement from the British government would help allay fears. “They’d need to say: ‘Brits can go back’, but it would still be a hard sell. I wouldn’t rush to promote it.”
Tony Mann of Idle Travel agreed it would take time to restore confidence. “They’d have to do a lot of publicity to rebuild faith,” he said. “They’d need to get out there and let everyone know what they’ve done on security.”
Sources close to negotiations over travel to Sharm told TTG they were not aware of an imminent shift in the government’s position.
A Department for Transport (DfT) spokesperson said: “The UK took the decision to suspend flights from Sharm el Sheikh in November 2015… to protect the travelling public.
“We continue to work closely with the Egyptian authorities on aviation security, regularly reviewing our decision, and look forward to being in a position to allow the resumption of flights once circumstances allow.”
A spokesperson for the Foreign Office, which advises against all but essential air travel to and from Sharm el Sheikh, added its advice was under constant review while stressing the flight ban was a matter for the DfT.
