EasyJet has currently suspended flights to the Egyptian resort until December 2 and is keeping departures after this date under review.

Carolyn McCall said the airline would be “led by the government as to when it is safe to operate to Sharm airport”. It came as Russia confirmed it had discovered evidence showing that a bomb brought down Metrojet flight 9268, with “traces of foreign-made explosives” in passengers’ personal belongings, luggage and aircraft debris.

All 224 people onboard were killed in the explosion over the Sinai peninsula on October 31. Speaking after the company reported record annual profits, McCall estimated that the Sharm situation would likely cost the company less than £10 million in total, including the cost of paying for passengers’ additional food and accommodation.

She insisted that a “worst-case scenario” where the airline didn’t fly to the resort in the first half of the current financial year would have a “small effect”.

“It’s a very popular winter sun destination, but it’s actually 0.5% of our network,” she said. In recent weeks the world has been rocked by terrorist attacks in both France and Egypt, but McCall believes the desire to travel will remain. “When we’ve seen tragic events in the past, whether that’s 9/11 whether that’s 7/7, actually travel recovers – people want to get back to some sense of normality despite the really awful events.

You do find that passenger demand increases every single year,” she said. “That’s because travel has become a very easy, affordable way of living and working, and so a lot of people go back to that.” There remains some confusion over the government’s stance on flights to Sharm el Sheikh.

A statement at the end of last week said that those travellers wishing to stay in the resort after November 17 “should make their own alternative arrangements for returning to the UK”, raising questions over whether they would be covered by their insurance.

The ambiguity has given rise to airlines and tour operators offering different return dates. Thomas Cook Airlines, Thomson Airways and easyJet have all cancelled flights up to and including December 2. Monarch has gone further by halting flights up to and including December 19.

The Foreign Office is still “advising against all but essential travel by air to or from Sharm el Sheikh”.