France: Nationals advised to refrain from non-essential travel to Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh resort

Following the Russian passenger plane crash, France's foreign ministry has advised its nationals against travelling to Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh. The ministry updated the advice on its website on 5 November.

It was also confirmed that only "a few dozen" French citizens are remaining in the Egyptian resort. Meanwhile Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on 5 November that it is "completely ready" to help resume normal travel to its tourist resort.

"We are completely ready to cooperate with all our friends to make sure that our airport provides the safety and security needed for the people who come to us," al-Sisi said at a joint news conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron.

"We also talked about the actions needed to make sure that this will not have any negative ramifications on the future of tourism in Egypt ... ten months ago we were asked by our British friends to send teams to Sharm airport to make sure that all the security procedures are enough ... they were happy with that."

Despite, the Egyptian President Sisi's understanding that the British security team has approved that all the systems are fine, UK officials believed that the security situation at the airport "had slipped back", according to Whitehall sources. So far some 20,000 Britons remain stranded in Sharm el-Sheikh.

Earlier Britain and German airline Lufthansa had suspended all flights to and from Sharm el-Sheikh, reported France24 News, however UK airlines have confirmed that repatriation of Britons stranded in the Egyptian resort will begin on 6 November without their luggage. According to tour operator Thomson, flights will run "under special security measures mandated by the UK government ... all hold luggage will be returned to customers under separate secure cover arranged by the UK government."

Meanwhile, several British holidaymakers who remain stranded in Egypt have said there was a lot of confusion at the Sharm el-Sheikh airport. "There was very little information about what is going on and communication," said Kate Dodd from Didsbury, Manchester.