EGYPT: EasyJet Boss Calls For Tightening Airport Security Around The World

As thousands of desperate holidaymakers continue to wait for an escape route out of Egypt, the country's media have been searching for any remaining British tourists on the beaches to show that not everyone is rushing to leave.

Local cameraman crews have been spotted interviewing several British tourists in an attempt to hide the fact that the popular holiday resorts have been all but abandoned by tourists in Egypt.

The usually bustling beaches are deserted with rows of empty sun loungers and empty hotels. The shocking scenes epitomise the impact the devastating plane crash has had on tourism in Egypt.

All Britons stranded in Sharm el-Sheikh following a plane crash 11 days ago should be home by the end of this week, the Foreign Secretary has said.

A total of 2,301 passengers returned to the UK yesterday on 11 flights from the Egyptian resort.

Asked during a press conference in Washington DC about the delays for Britons trying to get back to the UK compared to other countries, Philip Hammond said the Government had insisted on 'some very significant increased security requirements' to ensure the safety of passengers.

He said: 'That has caused some delays and sort of backups in what is quite a small airport operating quite close to its capacity.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond insists all the remaining stranded Britons will get home by the end of the week

Waiting to come home: Thousands of British tourists are stranded in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, as airlines announce that flights from Britain to the resort won't be resuming until November 26 at the earliest

'There have been more Russian flights going out than flights to the UK.

'Russia has far more people in the resort than the UK does and the Russians, as far as I'm aware, have not insisted on the additional security measures that we have imposed.'

Mr Hammond said they are happy with how the process is going.

'By the end of this week, we expect to have cleared the backlog. So in the circumstances, the repatriation is going smoothly.'

Investigators are understood to be 90 per cent sure a noise picked up by the cockpit voice recorder in the final seconds of the flight was the sound of an explosion caused by a bomb.

The Russian Airbus 321 which crashed on October 31 was still gaining altitude as it disintegrated 23 minutes after take-off.

Mr Hammond has already warned that airport security around the world will have to be overhauled if it was confirmed the crash in the Sinai was caused by an Islamic State bomb.

Local media have been desperately trying to show how not all tourists have been scared away by the plane crash

Egypt's vital tourism industry is already feeling the pressure of a dramatic fall in holidaymakers

The head of easyJet has added her voice to the call for a global tightening of airport security.

I think Philip Hammond is right to point out that there are other countries that airlines fly to where it perhaps needs to be tightened.'

We share the frustrations of passengers stuck at the resort or airport and assured them they will be well looked after while they wait to return home.

While security has been stepped up at the airport, concerns have been raised over the use of bomb detectors at some hotels in the resort which it is claimed offer 'no protection' against terrorism.

The devices are reportedly being used by security guards at a number of hotels in the popular tourist resort, in the wake of the Russian plane crash that killed all 224 people on board.

The Foreign Office said it will continue to raise concerns about the devices.

A spokeswoman said: 'Across the resort, airport style scanners, sniffer dogs, body searches, metal detectors, private security, police and CCTV are being used to keep tourists safe.

'We will continue to raise our concerns over the use of the devices in question.

'While we have updated our advice on travelling to Sharm el-Sheik by air, we have not changed the threat level for the resort.'

The detection devices used at the hotels appear to be based on those which came to prominence in recent years when a number of people in the UK were convicted in connection with fake bomb detectors.

In 2013, conman James McCormick from Somerset was jailed for 10 years after being found guilty of three offences of fraud, having sold fake bomb detectors to Iraq.

The same year Gary Bolton from Kent was jailed for seven years over the sale of more than 1,000 useless detectors which he claimed could track down bombs, drugs, ivory and money.