It comes after Number 10 announced last night that it was suspending flights to and from the airport of Sharm el-Sheikh amid reports that a bomb may have brought down the Russian Metrojet flight on Saturday, killing all 224 people on board.

Reports suggest the government is hopeful that flights could resume on Friday to start bringing home some of the 20,000 British who are said to be in resort.

Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Philip Hammond said there were 19 flights scheduled for Britain on Thursday, but that none would depart.

"The airlines are telling us that they expect by tomorrow they’ll be in a position to start flying those British visitors back to the UK," he added.

"We’re spending today with the airlines, with the Egyptian authorities, putting in place short-term emergency measures that will allow us to screen everything going on to those planes, double-check those planes, so that we can be confident that they can fly back safely to the UK."

The UK government’s emergency committee Cobra met last night chaired by the prime minister.

Hammond said short-term security measures including additional levels of baggage screening and searching, but that the UK would be working with the Egyptian authorities to look at long-term solutions to "allow the resumption of normal air activity".

He has also predicted that more countries will suspend flights to and from Sharm el-Sheikh.

Responding to the news Thomas Cook said it had cancelled its flight and holiday programme to Sharm el-Sheikh until November 12, while Thomson Airways along with First Choice, cancelled all outbound flights to Sharm el-Sheikh up to and including November 12.

British Airways postponed its Thursday flights to and from Sharm el-Sheikh until Friday, EasyJet cancelled all flights to and from the resort on Thursday and is keeping future flights "under review".

Monarch cancelled all flights in and out of Sharm el-Sheikh on Thursday. The Irish Aviation Authority said it had directed Irish airlines not to fly to or from the area until further notice.

Meanwhile, an Abta spokesperson said they were working with the government over the situation, adding: "We are liaising with the UK government about the halt to flights in and out of Sharm el Sheikh airport and how we can assist our members and customers in resort, or those due to travel out.

"We will provide further updates when they are available."

Hammond stressed that the Foreign Office was not changing its travel advice with regard to the Sharm el-Sheikh resort itself, which it says it views as safe.

Egypt’s foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry has accused the UK government of making "a premature and unwarranted statement" on the crash, and said he was very disappointed by the decision to suspend flights, Egypt has dismissed claims by the Islamic State group that they brought down the plane while Russian experts say it is too early to reach a conclusion.