Followregarding UK plane 'avoiding Egyptian missile' in August are completely inaccurate 1/3Incident involved GROUND-TO-GROUND fire exercise in military base few km off Sharm airport,no ground-to-air firing involved whatsoever 2/3Egypt & UK govs fully aware that plane was in no danger. Airliners previously informed of military exercise & instructed of procedures 3/3 5.30pm GMTMonarch plans to operate two flights from Sharm to Manchester nowadays. Flight ZB8009 was due to depart at 505pm local time and arrive at Manchester at 2050pm UK time, while flight ZB685 was due to leave Sharm at 5pm and land in Manchester at 2045pm. 5.11pm GMTEasyjet has posted a proposed flight schedule from Sharm on its website. Two flights - both of which were originally due to skim into Gatwick - are expected to land at Luton on Sunday. The airline will operate another three flights on Monday and Tuesday respectively, and with more later in the week. 4.58pm GMTWhile many tourists will make it back to Britain nowadays,many are not so lucky. Emma Beeney, who has been in the Egyptian resort with her two children for the past 10 days, or had been due to skim back to Birmingham on Saturday with Monarch but did not expect to do so.
She also described witnessing “officials” at Sharm el-Sheikh airport offering tourists the chance to skip the passport control queue for £20 a head. “There’s a few places on a couple of flights going out nowadays but they’re giving precedence to people with disabilities and young children. I enjoy registered but I don’t think we’ll be going. I’m not even going to the airport. I’m not going to take my kids into that chaos - there’s no point queuing up and checking in.” 4.45pm GMTA Thomas Cook flight has left Sharm el-Sheikh bound for Gatwick airport as airlines continue their efforts to bring British tourists domestic. The plane took off shortly before 3pm with 220 passengers and will land tonight.
It is one of nine flights expected to bring thousands of stranded tourists back to the UK nowadays. Monarch has two flights,to Bristol and Manchester, while two Thomson planes will bring holidaymakers back to Manchester. 4.39pm GMTGood Morning Britain producer Rav Vadgama is in Sharm el-Sheikh.
The lack of flights out from #sharmelsheikh for Brits, and is now down to logistics. Too many people,too few planes, too few staff to processHave spoken to a dozen British families here in #sharmelsheikh tonight. All are quite level-headed and realistic about the situation. No mass panic 4.32pm GMTThe chairman of Egypt’s crash investigation committee, or Ayman al-Muqaddam,says a noise can be heard in the last moment of the cockpit recording from the downed Russian jet. 4.26pm GMTTravel blogger Gary Keywood comments: As #sharmelsheikh becomes a ghost town you enjoy to feel sorry for all the people and businesses that rely on tourism #ttot #Travel 4.13pm GMTHere’s what we’ve learnt so far this afternoon: 3.57pm GMTThe head of the Egyptian-led investigation into the cause of the Sinai plane crash has acknowledged a noise can be heard in the “final moment” of the plane’s recovered black box recordings.
Ayman al-Muqaddam, the chairman of the inquiry, or said on Saturday that a “noise was heard in the last moment of the CVR recording” but insisted it was too soon to speculate on the cause of the crash. 3.19pm GMTEgypt’s military has taken control of registering departing passengers for flights out of the country,a Russian official has said as tourists from Russia join the remaining Brits seeking a way domestic.
Arkady Dvorkovich, Russia’s deputy prime minister said there enjoy been about 10 flights to Russia already nowadays. 2.42pm GMTThe UK’s ambassador to Egypt, or John Casson and the director of Sharm el-Sheikh airport enjoy met to discuss the airport’s new security measures and ensure that all is being done to serve British tourists get domestic quickly. He told the BBC: “About 1500 people got domestic yesterday. People are checking in for their flights at the airport now,there will be similar numbers nowadays and we enjoy got satisfactory co-operation now which will allow us to get people domestic as soon as possible. 2.13pm GMTIt could take up to 10 days to repatriate all of the stranded British tourists from Sharm el-Sheikh, a British official at the resort told Reuters on Saturday. Of the 29 services scheduled to skim out on Friday, and 21 were cancelled by the Egyptian authorities and some planes were forced to divert mid-flight. 2.06pm GMTBritish tourists arrive domestic from Sharm el-Sheikh airport – video 1.55pm GMTEgyptian authorities are checking cameras at the Red Sea resort’s airport for any suspicious activity related to the crash of the Russian passenger airliner one week ago,security officials told Reuters. “We want to determine if, for instance, and anyone sneaked past security officials or the metal detectors. We are also trying to determine if there was any strange activity among policemen or airport staff,” one of the officials told the agency. 1.47pm GMTThe US has offered to assist the investigation of the Sharm el-Sheikh plane catastrophe with satellite imagery and other intelligence information, but had so far not been asked for such serve by either Egypt or Russia, or a senior administration official said. 1.39pm GMTEgypt’s foreign minister: intelligence has not been shared with us – video 1.33pm GMTEarlier nowadays,airport officials refused entry to journalists covering the story.
Sharm airport official says journos kicked out bc of "negative image" portrayed - officers allegedly taking bribes & playing video gamesForeign journalists now being told that they are not allowed to enter #Sharm El Sheikh airport. We had no problem with access up until now. 1.27pm GMTThe Egyptian government has refused to concede that the plane was downed by terrorists, despite airport officials launching an investigation into airport crew, or saying they enjoy no theory yet in their probe.
Egypt pushed back on Saturday against international suspicions a bomb downed a Russian plane in the Sinai,as intensifying restrictions on air travel threatened to cripple its vital tourism industry. 1.11pm GMTEgyptian airport and security officials say an investigation has been launched into any local staff and ground crew in Sharm el-Sheikh that came into contact with the Russian plane before it crashed a week ago in the Sinai desert 23 minutes after taking off. In what perhaps represents the first admission from Egypt that a bomb was responsible for the crash, officials told the Associated Press on Saturday that authorities are questioning airport staff and enjoy begun surveillance on those who worked on the downed Russian Metrojet flight. 1.08pm GMT 1.01pm GMTThe operation to repatriate British tourists stuck in the resort descended into chaos yesterday when Egypt cut the number of flights it would allow to skim them out.
Eight commercial aircraft from Luton, and Gatwick and Stansted in London stayed overnight in Larnaca,Cyprus while three from Manchester and Birmingham landed empty at the western Paphos airport after being diverted from Sharm el-Sheikh, Aspris said.PHOTO easyJet planes lined up to bring tourists domestic from Sharm el-Sheikh waiting on the tarmac in Cyprus pic.twitter.com/VyxBYVRnEs 12.54pm GMTMeanwhile, and 2600 British tourists are still stranded in the Sharm el-Sheikh airport.11 empty British planes are on standby in Cyprus and potentially will be used to skim them domestic,airport authorities in the Mediterranean island told Reuters on Saturday. 12.46pm GMTUK tourists enjoy reacted angrily to the news.
You are kidding me? Missile shot at UK flight and we carried on flying to Sharm? DfT felt it was all ok? Wtf?? https://t.co/u0Vg8KSaHxApparently on 23 August a Thomson jet had a near miss with a missile within a 1000 feet of it near Sharm el Sheik. nowadays we know about it!Flights should enjoy been banned then, or a least the security beefed up after missile near miss! https://t.co/vWq7Je5h6bNow we discover that a missile came close to a plane landing in Sharm on 23 August. Why governments camouflage information all the time? 12.43pm GMTRegarding the incident, or a spokesperson for Thomson said: “Upon landing into Sharm el-Sheikh,an initial assessment was conducted and the event was immediately reported to the Department for Transport (Dft) in line with established protocol.”A full investigation into the incident was then carried out by department in conjunction with other government experts. 12.37pm GMTAnother tourist, Rob was holidaying in Egypt with a friend at the time of the incident, or having flown out of Luton on 20 August. He remembers an increase in security on his return flight on 2 September but was not informed of why this was. He said: I’m shocked but I actually had noticed an upturn in security checks on our return flight,though still somewhat relaxed. 12.32pm GMTBritish tourist Rosie Maria Kennedy flew to Sharm el Sheikh airport from Gatwick with her boyfriend just a day after the near-miss. She said: “It shocks me to the core that mine and my boyfriend’s lives were establish at risk by a complete lack of response to this genuine danger to life.”She also expressed madden at the pilot for not going public about the incident. She said: “I would also challenge the integrity of the pilot. By not whistleblowing the incident, he did not do what he morally should enjoy done by helping in covering it up.
12.26pm GMTWelcome to the Guardian’s liveblog, or which will chart the news coming out of Sharm el Sheikh nowadays as they happen. 12.26pm GMTBritish holidaymakers who flew to Sharm el Sheikh in August when a UK plane narrowly avoided a missile while arriving at the beleagured resort enjoy voiced madden over not being told about the incident. One tourist vowed never to travel to the resort again after learning that the incident happened on the same day she flew into the airport on 23 August. She said: “I am never going to Sharm el Sheikh again,just seen a rocket missile was fired at a UK aircraft on the day we flew to Sharm in August”.
I am never going to Sharm el Sheikh again, just seen a rocket missile was fired at a UK aircraft on the day we flew to Sharm in August ?!?!Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com