Attempts to fly home thousands of holidaymakers stranded in Sharm el-Sheikh were thrown into disarray after easyJet announced eight of flights had been suspended by Egyptian authorities.
Russia, meanwhile, has agreed to a recommendation to suspend all flights to Egypt until the cause of the crash near Sharm el-Sheikh resort is determined.
It is estimated that 700 Scots holidaymakers were in the Egyptian resort. It was hoped that they would being flying back on Friday under tightened security, which includes a ban on airlines carrying hold luggage.
While two easyJet planes, due to carry 339 passengers to Luton and Gatwick, were given permission to leave the Red Sea resort, a further eight have been stopped from taking off and are no longer expected to fly today, said the airline in a statement.
But Thomson Airways, BA and Monarch have said its flights scheduled today from Sharm el Sheikh are continuing as planned.
The UK Government had been expecting more than 20 flights to bring Britons home over the course of Friday, and Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said it was hoped to clear most of the backlog of passengers by the end of the day.
Nine Thomson Airways flights are to head back to the UK as normal, including a Glasgow flight now due to leave at 5.50pm local time and arriving at 10.15pm UK time. It had been delayed by two hours.
A Monarch spokesman said: "Flights are on the way to Sharm El Sheikh now and will be arriving later this afternoon. Based on the latest information we have we expect all our aircraft to depart as planned later today."The Monarch airline said that five planes are currently in the air on the way to pick up Britons from Sharm el-Sheikh and bring them home as scheduled.
And BA said their one flight from Sharm on Friday is due to depart later this afternoon as planned.
The UK government suspended air links on Wednesday after an Airbus 321 operated by Russian airline Metrojet crashed on Saturday, killing 224 people. Militants of the Islamic State terror group in the Sinai Peninsula have claimed that they downed the plane, and Mr McLoughlin said there was now a "high probability" that a bomb in the hold was to blame.
Amy McEvoy of Thomson Airways said that "the airline's flights scheduled today from Sharm el Sheikh are continuing as planned".
Thomson said it planned to depart Sharm el-Sheikh en route for Glasgow Airport at 5.50pm local time on Friday, with a scheduled arrival time in Scotland of 10.15pm.
EasyJet are telling customers that the rescue flights "have been suspended by the Egyptian authorities".
The budget airline said: "We're sorry to inform passengers that our rescue plans that were put in place yesterday have been suspended by the Egyptian authorities.
"Discussions are currently ongoing at the highest political level to resolve this situation. We are very sorry and understand that this is extremely frustrating for our passengers - unfortunately the situation is outside of easyJet's control."
Easy jet emergency flight meant to be depart has now been cancelled. Passengers now being brought back pic.twitter.com/jPgTtDjWz0
— Sherine Tadros (@SherineT) November 6, 2015
Thomson Airways in confirming their flight were continuing said: "These flights will operate under special security measures mandated by the UK Government. Customers will not be able to bring any hold luggage with them on these flights. Only hand luggage can be brought on board and normal Thomson cabin baggage restrictions apply.
"All hold luggage will be returned to customers under separate secure cover arranged by the UK Government.
"Our experienced overseas resort team are updating all our customers currently on holiday in Sharm el Sheikh and doing everything we can to assist them as we manage this evolving situation.
"Holiday reps are regularly visiting all hotels and can be contacted for the most up to date information when it is available."
It said outbound flights to Sharm el-Sheikh remained cancelled up to and including Thursday 12th November. All customers booked to travel to Sharm el-Sheikh in this period wouldbe provided with a full refund or can amend to any holiday currently on sale.
Monarch, Thomson, Thomas Cook and British Airways also had scheduled UK-bound flights for some of the estimated 19,000 British nationals on holiday in Sharm el-Sheikh.
Passengers had their travel plans thrown into chaos after the UK called a halt to all flights to and from the Red Sea resort on Wednesday amid fears that extremists linked to Islamic State had blown up a Russian passenger plane using a bomb planted at Sharm el-Sheikh airport.
All 224 people on board were killed when the aircraft broke up in mid-air over Egypt’s Sinai peninsula on Saturday, 23 minutes into a flight to St Petersburg.
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