By Evie Andreou
SEVERAL aircrafts from the UK have arrived empty at Larnaca and Paphos airports to assist in the transfer of British holidaymakers stranded at Sharm el-Sheikh back home to England, Hermes Airports spokesman Adamos Aspris said on Friday.
Cyprus will be used to help evacuate the British tourists out of the Sinai peninsula after the UK government suspended air links to the Egyptian resort on Wednesday following last weekend’s crash of an Airbus 321 operated by Russian airline Metrojet, killing all 224 people on board.
The first aircraft have already arrived from various UK airports, and are waiting to be given the green light to fly to Sharm el-Sheikh to pick up passengers and fly them home.
“The aircraft have arrived from Luton, Gatwick, Stansted and other UK airports,” Aspris told the Cyprus Mail.
The Cypriot airports are in a state of readiness to accommodate more aircraft that are expected to arrive within the coming days, since around 20,000 Britons are stuck at the resort, state radio CyBC said. There is still no information yet as to how many aircraft are expected to arrive.
There is also no information whether the aircraft will depart from Sharm el-Sheikh directly to the UK, or if the flights will be via Cyprus.
Since the accident last Saturday, departures from Sharm el-Sheikh have been limited. Citing British media, the Cyprus News Agency reported that Britain is planning the departure of 29 aircraft from Sharm el-Sheikh to transfer tourists back to the UK, but the civil aviation authority in Cairo announced that only eight flights were to depart on Friday.
Monarch, the CNA said, sent five aircraft from Britain, however, only two were expected to return to the UK on Friday. Two aircraft were grounded and a fifth was instructed to divert its flight to Larnaca. Two Thomson Airways aircraft were reportedly instructed to fly to Larnaca instead.
British holidaymakers have been enduring travel chaos as they wait to hear when their flights depart. Passengers were told they will not be able to take any hold luggage with them on any of the flights for security purposes. The luggage is to be brought back to the UK separately.
Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said information obtained by UK officials indicated there was a “high probability” that the Russian aircraft was brought down by an explosive device, though he said he was still waiting for final confirmation. Militants of the Islamic State terrorist group in the Sinai Peninsula had initially claimed that they downed the plane, which Russian and Egyptian officials denied.
There have also been reports that security agencies received intelligence based on intercepted communications between Sinai militants which pointed towards a bomb on the plane.
It is suspected that an explosive device could have been placed inside or on top of luggage by someone with access to the hold just before take-off, news reports suggested.
Russia suspended all passenger flights to Egypt on Friday, while Turkey cancelled flights to Sharm el-Sheikh. The Russian Travel Industry Union estimated there were around 50,000 Russian tourists currently in Egypt.
Meanwhile, the first flights bringing about 4,000 stranded holidaymakers back from Sharm el-Sheikh landed in the UK late on Friday, according to the Press Association.
An easyJet flight landed at Gatwick at 4.25pm local time while another touched down at Luton just after 5.30pm, but the airline has delayed another seven UK-bound flights until Saturday.
Thomson Airways said that “due to a last-minute change in Egyptian government restrictions” it could only operate two flights from Sharm el-Sheikh to the UK on Friday.
British Airways, which has one flight leaving for Gatwick, said it had not been informed of any changes.
The strict security issues have caused further problems as Egypt’s civil aviation minister said the volume of luggage being left behind by British passengers has disrupted operations at the airport.
In a statement, Hossam Kamal said Sharm el-Sheikh airport was not able to hold more than 120 tons of luggage left behind by tourists to be flown separately to the UK by cargo plane.
“This big volume will affect the smooth operation of the rest of the domestic and international flights,” said Kamal.
“Egypt fully co-operates with the British side in the light of the resources of the airport and in accordance with international security regulations.”
