Thousands of British tourists will return from Egypt's resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh without their luggage on Friday, after Prime Minister David Cameron gave the go-ahead for air travel to resume with very tight security restrictions.
Dozens of buses were waiting outside the airport, with police inspecting each vehicle, as 25 flights prepare to leave the resort city, The Guardian reported.
The evacuation of British tourists was allowed to proceed after Downing Street said there had been an agreement with the Egyptian authorities on a "package of additional security measures", including empty holds, extra screening on passengers, and checks on their hand luggage.
The departures will clear a backlog of up to 4,000 stranded tourists who were due to return since the British foreign office advised against all travel through the airport on Wednesday night.
In a sign of further wariness, the Dutch carrier KLM told passengers leaving from the Egyptian capital of Cairo on Friday that they can only take hand luggage on board.
A statement on its website said the measure was "based on national and international information and out of precaution."
The organised return from Sharm el-Sheikh comes amid reports that a bomb may have been smuggled into the cargo hold of the Russian Metrojet airliner carrying over 200 people on board, which disintegrated above the Sinai desert on October 31.
