More Sharm el-Sheikh flights due to land at Birmingham

Airlines have scheduled eight more flights to bring holidaymakers home to Britain today.

• Thomas Cook will fly tourists back to Gatwick this afternoon
• Thomson has planes bound for Gatwick, Birmingham and Manchester
• Two easyJet planes will fly into Luton
• Monarch will also operate two flights, one to Gatwick and the other to Birmingham
• British Airways also has a flight scheduled for tomorrow.

Nearly 2,000 tourists returned to airports across England yesterday aboard nine flights, along with around 1,500 on Friday.

But thousands more are still stranded in the Egyptian holiday resort and Government officials warned it is likely the increased safety measures mean many will have to stay in the country for a while longer.

Monarch Airlines has announced it plans to operate two flights from Sharm el-Sheikh Airport on Sunday, including one to Birmingham Airport.

Customers due to travel on these flights have been contacted.

• Flight ZB475 is currently planned to depart from Sharm El Sheikh at 1820hrs (local time) arriving back into Birmingham 2220hrs (local time).
• Flight ZB249 is currently planned to depart from Sharm El Sheikh at 1710hrs (local time) arriving back into London Gatwick 2040hrs (local time).

A mother who was stranded in Egypt after flights back to the UK were suspended over terrorism concerns says the experience was chaotic and distressing.

Kerrie Spencer, who is six months pregnant and from Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire, was one of thousands of British holidaymakers stuck at Sharm el-Sheikh airport. Phil Brewster reports.

Read: UK hopes to return all Brits from Sharm el-Sheikh within 10 days

Britons unable to fly home from Sharm el-Sheikh have spoken of their growing frustration at being stuck in Egypt.

Several holidaymakers told ITV News that many people were starting to panic and the novelty of having a few extra days by the pool had quickly worn off.

Nine flights are expected to leave Sharm for the UK on Saturday, but it is nowhere near enough to meet the demand.

Officials have said they hope to get all the British tourists home within 10 days.

Britain hopes to return all Britons from Sharm el-Sheikh within 10 days, a British official at the airport has said.

The British government is increasing the number of flights and will return about 2,000 British nationals on Saturday on nine flights, the official added.

Britain suspended flights to the Red Sea resort on Wednesday after saying it feared a bomb may have brought down a Russian jet which crashed, killing 224 people.

A Monarch flight from Sharm-el-Sheikh to Birmingham has been cancelled today.

Flight ZB475 was due to land at the Birmingham Airport at 10:20pm. Monarch airlines have said it will not land in Birmingham tonight.

It remains unclear whether any more flights will land at the East Midlands or Birmingham airports through the weekend.

Two planes set to return from Sharm El Sheikh and landing at Birmingham Airport tonight are both delayed.

A Monarch flight with around 200 people on board was due to arrive at Birmingham Airport at 8.35pm but is now estimated to land at 9.26pm. A Thomas Cook flight was due to land at 9.45pm but is now set to touch down at 10.40pm.

The flights come after holidaymakers waiting to return to the UK from the Eqyptian resort endured chaos today as conflicting information was given about whether or not their flights would take off.

Egyptian authorities announced that just eight flights will depart from Sharm el-Sheikh for the UK, rather than the 29 initially expected as frustrated passengers waited for information.

The UK Government suspended air links on Wednesday after an Airbus 321 operated by Russian airline Metrojet crashed last Saturday, killing all 224 people on board. Militants of the Islamic State terror group in the Sinai Peninsula have claimed that they downed the plane.

The latest news is that two flights carrying passengers that have been stranded in Sharm El Sheikh are due into Birmingham and one flight into the East Midlands.

• Monarch are operating one flight with around 200 people on board. It is due to arrive at Birmingham Airport at 20:15.
• Thomas Cook are operating one flight which is due to land at Birmingham Airport at 21:45.
• That flight will then continue to East Midlands Airport where passengers are due to land 23:15.

A Monarch flight containing passengers who were stranded in Sharm El Sheikh is due to arrive back in Birmingham today.

Four of their five flights have now landed in Sharm El Sheikh, the fifth flight has been diverted to Larnaca.

Monarch flights ZB097 will operate to London Gatwick and ZB475 to Birmingham airport.