Monarch ends flights to Sharm El-Sheikh

The Egyptian tourist industry has been dealt a further blow after UK independent airline Monarch announced it is abandoning flights to Sharm El-Sheikh.

The airline has cancelled all flight and holiday bookings to the Red Sea destination for the foreseeable future and removed the destination from its summer 2017 programme, saying that with no indication from the UK Government as to when flights will be allowed to resume, it had no choice but to drop the route from its schedules.

The airline has not flown to the resort since a suspected terrorist bomb brought down a Russian Airbus that departed from Sharm in October 2015. Prior to the closure of the airport, around 700,000 Britons visited Sharm El-Sheikh every year.

Andrew Swaffield, Monarch Group’s chief executive, said: “Much hard work has been done by the UK and Egyptian Governments, along with the travel industry, to improve safety measures at Sharm El-Sheikh Airport and it is very disappointing that it remains closed.

“If and when the airport does reopen then we will assess whether we start flights and holidays again.”