Last Lithuanian tourists to fly back from Sharm el-Sheikh on Wednesday

After a Russian passenger plane crashed in Egypt, followed by suspicions that the aircraft might have been brought down by a terrorist bomb, Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday issued a warning against travelling to the Sinai Peninsula. Several tour operators immediately cancelled planned trips to Sharm el-Sheikh, a popular holiday destination with Lithuanian travellers.

Simonas Bartkus, marketing director at Small Planet Airlines, said the company’s security staff were in Egypt where they inspected passenger and luggage security checks before Sunday’s flight from Sharm el-Sheikh to Vilnius. Additional security checks were also performed on all airport personnel servicing the plane.

According to Small Planet Airlines, its planes from Vilnius take the route to Sharm el-Sheikh, located on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, from the west and do not fly over the peninsula.

Russia-bound Metrojet Flight 9268 crashed in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on 31 October following departure from Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport, killing all 224 people aboard. The possibility of a bomb being put on the plane at Sharm el-Sheikh led to several countries ordering their planes to stop serving that airport.