The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has directed Irish airlines to avoid the Sinai Peninsula, following the crash of a Russian plane there last weekend.
Russian MetroJet Flight 9268 crashed over the Sinai Peninsula last Saturday following a "sudden and unexpected situation", killing 224 passengers and crew.
The plane took off from the Egyptian Red Sea holiday resort of Sharm El Sheikh, with many of the passengers holidaymakers from St. Petersburg.
No cause has been identified for the crash, although terrorism has not been ruled out. The possibility of a bomb placed on board the aircraft would have very serious ramifications for the resort and its airport - Africa's third-busiest.
On Wednesday evening, the IAA directed Irish airline operators not to operate to/from Sharm el‐Sheikh Airport, Egypt or in the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula airspace "until further notice".
The announcement follows a similar "precautionary" move in the UK, with Thomson, Thomas Cook, Monarch, easyJet and BA having now suspended flights.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has not changed its travel advice, however.
It advises Irish citizens to note the IAA direction, but does not recommend against travelling to the resort. It says potential visitors should "exercise a high degree of caution and avoid travelling outside the resort."
The British FCO adds: “We are not raising the threat level in the resort. The advice applies only to air travel to and from Sharm el-Sheikh.”
A team of UK aviation experts travelled to assess the security arrangements at Sharm El Sheikh airport Wednesday night, with an initial assessment reportedly showing improvements are required.
That is the current (and very unusual) situation.
It differs to Tunisia earlier this year, for instance, when holidaymakers were evacuated after a terrorist attack saw travel alerts stepped up.
The British security team will be examining passenger-screening processes, baggage handling procedures, and the effectiveness of background checks on airport staff at Sharm El Sheikh airport.
Thousands of tourists are now said to be stranded in Sharm El Sheikh.
Those on package holidays should be looked after by their tour operator, which is legally obliged to get them home and to provide care and assistance in the meantime.
Independent travellers should seek advice from their airlines, which are obliged under EU law to offer refunds or re-routing with care and assistance.
This is an evolving situation, but some reports have suggested that British security officials are developing a secondary operation to screen passengers and their baggage, and to protect UK aircraft at the airport.
Charter flights from Ireland to Egypt finished last week, and Falcon, Thomson Holidays and Red Sea Holidays have all now ended their summer programmes to Sharm El Sheikh.
However, Irish tourists may could still travel independently, and a small number of tour operators, including LowCostHolidays.ie and Cassidy Travel, continue to offer packages using flights via Istanbul with Turkish Airlines, for example.
As of Thursday morning, LowCostHolidays.ie advises us that it has no Irish customers in Sharm, and is "constantly reviewing the situation and will be following the guidelines as recommended by the DFA."
"The sooner everyone finds out what really happened, the better," Pat Dawson, CEO of the Irish Travel Agents' Association (ITAA) told The Herald. "At the moment it is a no-go area.”
Sharm El Sheikh has a troubled history as a tourist resort.
The resort was hit by terrorist attacks in 2005 that killed 88 people and wounded over 200, making them the deadliest in Egypt's history.
In 2010, a series of shark attacks injured several swimmers and closed beaches for over a week after a German woman was killed while snorkelling.
In 2014, security threats saw the resort's withdrawal from Irish holiday brochures, though packages resumed after the DFA downgraded its travel alert.
The fact that the latest air disaster comes just months after a terrorist attack that left 38 dead in Tunisia will further fuel concerns about North African travel.
The vast majority of visits remain incident-free, however.
Indeed, one of the first things tourists to Sharm El Sheikh will notice are its armed tourist police. Together with vehicle checks and CCTV, they have created a ring of steel on the Sinai Peninsula, reflecting its value as a cash cow for Egyptian tourism.
"Irish citizens are advised to avoid-non-essential travel to Egypt at this time due to a heightened threat of terrorist incidents, including targeted attacks against foreigners, and a continuing threat of civil unrest," the DFA says.
The following exceptions apply: Sharm El Sheikh; Luxor, Aswan and Abu Simbel (including cruises between them); the Red Sea coastal resort of Hurghada and other Red Sea resorts outside the Sinai peninsula, where Irish citizens are advised to exercise caution and arrive and depart by air.
Strictly speaking, if you cancel your holiday without the DFA declaring travel to be unsafe, it could be deemed "disinclination to travel". As such, you may have to give up your deposit, pay a cancellation fee or forfeit some or all of the cost.
If your tour operator cancels, however, you will be entitled to a refund or replacement holiday.
Having the appropriate travel insurance in place can defray these costs... but you need to check the small print in your policy.
If the DFA declares travel to Sharm to be unsafe, you will be entitled to a full refund. You are unlikely to claim successfully if you are simply nervous about travel, however.
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