A few evacuation flights from Sharm el-Sheikh to Britain were due to resume on Friday, with airlines laying on extra planes to get stranded travelers home, but passengers would only be allowed to fly with hand luggage due to a British government request. A “heat flash” was detected, likely an explosion, and the plane crashed shortly after takeoff.
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But the crash could expose holes in security measures at overseas airports where USA airports do operate, security analysts and members of Congress said Thursday.
Egypt’s Aviation Minister Hossam Kamal said in a written statement seen by Anadolu Agency that more than one-third of the airport’s 74 flight departures on Friday would be to the United Kingdom.
In remarks after a meeting with United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said that the two had discussed how to “restore the movement of tourists” in the “soonest time possible”.
If, as both United Kingdom and U.S. intelligence now strongly suspect, an IS bomb did cause the A321 Airbus to crash, killing 224 people, it would be extremely damaging for President Putin, who recently committed Russian forces to combat operations against IS in Syria.
The AFP source says according to investigators, the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder show everything was normal aboard the Russian Metrojet.
EasyJet and other British airlines are trying to return an estimated 19,000 Britons home after the United Kingdom suspended outbound flights from the resort city following last weekend’s crash of a Russian plane.
The ISIS jihadist group has claimed responsibility for the disaster.
Egyptian official said earlier 29 flights are planned from Sharm el-Sheikh to Britain, but this was later revised to eight. But on Friday, Russian intelligence chief Alexander Bortnikov said it was “reasonable” to halt the flights.
Britain has said a bomb planted by an Islamic State affiliate may have caused the jet to crash and also suspended regular flights to Sharm amid concerns over airport security.
“We haven’t made own determination, however, we can’t rule anything out, including the possibility of terrorist involvement'”, White House spokesman, Josh Earnest said.
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According to Yousef, Russian tourists are in the first place, with a few 3 million of them visiting the Egypt every year, while around 1 million British nationals goes to the country’s resorts yearly.
