BRITAIN has suspended all flights to and from Sharm el-Sheikh airport as Foreign Minister Philip Hammond said it was now a "significant possibility" that the a bomb planted at the airport brought down a Russian passenger jet.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is advising against all but essential travel through the Egyptian airport, leaving thousands of Brits stranded in Red Sea resorts.
Speaking after an emergency Cobra security meeting at Downing Street last night, Mr Hammond said the FCO was updating its travel advice for the region although the terror threat level remained unchanged.
He said: "We have concluded that there is a significant possibility that the crash was caused by an explosive device on board the aircraft," Hammond said after a meeting of the government's crisis response committee chaired by Prime Minister David Cameron.
"We are now advising against all but essential travel by air through Sharm el-Sheikh airport. That means that there will be no UK passenger flights out to Sharm el-Sheikh from now."
It echoed reports from unnamed US intelligence sources that a bomb was now the likeliest explanation for the destruction of the Metrojet flight on Saturday, which appeared to have blown apart in mid-air.
Earlier in the evening, Downing Street had suspended all incoming flights from Sharm el-Sheikh as a "precautionary measure", revealing that officials suspected an explosive device had been smuggled on board the Airbus jet.
UK aviation experts were dispatched to evaluate the airport's security arrangements.
Hundreds of Scottish holidaymakers now face an anxious wait to fly home from Egypt's Red Sea resorts.
Mr Hammond said emergency procedures for additional screening and security would be implemented to enable Brits to head home early if they preferred.
Package holiday firm, Thomson, operates regular charter flights between Glasgow and Edinburgh Airports and Sharm el-Sheikh. There were no flights due in to either airport last night, but the next outbound flight from Scotland to Sharm el-Sheikh was due to depart from Glasgow Airport at 7am today [Thu] but has been cancelled. A return flight from the Egyptian resort was also scheduled to land at Glasgow Airport at 8.15pm tonight.
Thomson was also due to operate flights to and from Glasgow and Sharm el-Sheikh on Sunday November 8.
A spokesman for Edinburgh Airport confirmed that the next Thomson flight from Sharm el-Sheikh to the capital was due on Saturday.
Passengers are asked to contact Thomson directly for the latest information on their flights.
A spokeswoman for Thomson said it had suspended flights to and from the resort with immediate effect.
She added: “We apologise for any inconvenience caused to our customers. We will be in contact with those customers affected as more information becomes available.”
Prime Minister David Cameron chaired a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee last night amid mounting fears that terrorists had brought down the Metrojet charter flight, which was bound for St Petersburg.
All 224 people on board, most of them Russian holidaymakers, were killed.
It comes as investigators continue to analyse data obtained from the stricken jet’s black boxes. The process is expected to take up to four weeks.
An initial assessment of the evidence on the cockpit voice recorder reportedly revealed noises “uncharacteristic of a standard flights” and a “sudden emergency situation” occurring moments before the plane disappeared from radar.
Flight tracking technology has also shown that the plane reached its cruising altitude before abruptly slowing down, after which it started plummeting to the ground at 300mph.
US satellite data detected a flash of heat in the area around the time the plane vanished, suggesting some sort of explosion.
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