World Bulletin / News Desk

British ambassador to Egypt John Casson said his country will restore flights to the Red Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh soon.

London had suspended flights to Sharm al-Sheikh following the crash of a Russian passenger plane in October, killing all 224 people on board.

Several countries have also suspended flights to Egypt amid reports that the aircraft had been brought down by a bomb.

Casson met with Egyptian Tourism Minister Hisham Zaazou to discuss a joint plan to resume British flights to the Red Sea city.

“I was given a mandate from my government to agree a joint action plan by the end of November for the return of flights as soon as possible,” the diplomat said in a statement. “I am pleased to say that Egypt and the United Kingdom have today finalized that plan.”

“This is a significant and welcome step forward and implementation of the measures agreed will start immediately,” Casson said.

Britain was the second biggest source market for Egypt with one million arrivals in terms of trips to the Arab country in 2014, after Russia, which recorded nearly three million arrivals during the same year.

Tourism is one of Egypt’s biggest employers and foreign currency earners. Egypt earned $7.4 billion from tourism in the fiscal year that ended in June.

The tourism industry accounted for nearly 13 percent of Egypt’s gross domestic product in 2014, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council. Travel and tourism also provided nearly 12 percent of Egypt’s jobs last year.