TUI flight from London’s Gatwick Airport to Egyptian resort town greeted with celebrations Travel halted in November 2015 following bombing of Russian airliner LONDON: After almost five years of tourist restrictions to Sharm El-Sheikh, the first flights from Britain have resumed. Travel to the popular Egyptian holiday destination was halted in November 2015 following the bombing of a Russian airliner immediately after take-off. All 224 passengers and crew on board were killed. A TUI flight from London’s Gatwick Airport to the Egyptian resort town was greeted with celebrations when it landed on Sunday. One passenger told The Guardian newspaper that fire engines sprayed celebratory water jets over the plane as it taxied across the runway. TUI, Britain’s biggest travel agency, announced in 2019 that flights to Sharm El-Sheikh would resume in February. Before the UK’s Foreign Office and Department of Transport imposed restrictions on Britons flying to the resort, the Red Sea destination had enjoyed hundreds of British tourists every year. But the ban required tourists to embark on multiple flights or take a ferry from Hurghada. Now-defunct airline Monarch blamed the restrictions on its decline. Despite the celebratory arrival of the TUI flight, heavy security measures remain in place in Sharm El-Sheikh.