Thomas Cook has extended its suspension of trips to the Egyptian resort of Sharm el Sheikh until the end of October, due to no change to travel advice
Travel operator Thomas Cook has opted to extend its suspension of holidays to the Egyptian resort of Sharm el Sheikh until Monday 31 October 2016, due to no change to travel advice from the Foreign Office.
A ban had previously been in place up to 25 May after a Russian commercial jet was downed in October.
The Foreign Office currently advises against all but essential travel by air to or from Sharm el Sheikh.
Other airlines also cancelled flights following the downing of the jet, but have yet to update on whether the bans will be extended.
Easyjet flights to the resort are on hold until 27 May, and it has suspended trips from Manchester, Luton and Gatwick until October due to reduced demand.
The budget carrier has said it will resume flights from Stansted on 29 May provided travel advice changes.
Thomas Cook said in a statement:
In light of this, and given that we have no clear indication as to when the FCO travel advice may change, Thomas Cook can confirm that it has taken the decision to cancel all bookings to Sharm el Sheikh up to and including Monday October 31, 2016. We appreciate that this may be frustrating for our customers who have been looking forward to their holiday and we would like to assure them that we are doing our upmost to ensure they are still able to enjoy a Thomas Cook holiday.
Thomas Cook's share price fell sharply after it said it would be suspending flights but it recovered after the company reassured investors holiday makers were continuing to travel to other destinations.
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The travel agent is offering customers who had booked a holiday to the resort free cancellations or amendments to bookings, as well as £30 per person off new holiday bookings.
Flights to the resort were suspended in November last year after 224 people were killed in a Russian airline crash. Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for the crash.
Around 16,000 Britons had to be brought home on government organised rescue flights amid heightened security following the crash.
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