TT. Tui Travel

Travel operators TUI Travel PLC (TT.LN) and Thomas Cook Group PLC (TCG.LN) Monday began canceling U.K. flights to the Egyptian city of Luxor after the U.K. government warned against all but essential travel to Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor and Suez in the wake of another day of civil unrest in the country.

The U.K. government altered its travel advice for Egypt over the weekend, recommending that British nationals without a pressing need to be in Cairo, Alexandria or Suez leave by commercial means as long as it's safe to do so. However, the advice didn't apply to some popular Red Sea tourist resorts like Sharm El Sheikh and tour operators are currently operating normal services to these places.

The move followed another day of violent protest Sunday against President Hosni Mubarak's regime. Some areas of Egypt were suffering increasing lawlessness, a rising death toll and a spate of jail breaks.

Thomas Cook and TUI Travel, Europe's largest tour operators, Monday said they had decided to cancel flights to Luxor in the wake of the change government guidance, but were continuing normal operations to Sharm El Sheikh and other Red Sea resorts. They also said holidaymakers currently in Luxor can continue their holidays as the government hadn't told British citizens to leave that city.

Thomas Cook had flights to Luxor scheduled for Wednesday. It said it would operate the return portion of the flights to bring back holidaymakers already in Luxor. TUI Travel has also canceled outbound flights to Luxor scheduled but will operate the return flights. TUI said any customers at any resorts concerned about the situation should contact the resort representative.

The Red Sea resorts served by the two travel companies are well away from the cities affected by the new U.K. government advice and are served by their own airports.

"Our experienced teams on the ground assure us that no tourist areas at the Red Sea have been affected in any way by the recent demonstrations," Thomas Cook said on its website. "They are fully operational and holiday makers are continuing to enjoy these popular resorts."

"People should also take considerable reassurance from the fact that the resort of Sharm el Sheikh operates like a country in itself. It is run separately from the rest of Egypt, benefits from having just one secure road into the resort, and enjoys an exceptionally low crime rate. There is also no unemployment in Sharm el Sheikh, since those living in the resort are only there because they are employed in tourism," TUI Travel said.

Media reports in the U.K. said about 30,000 British tourists were currently in Egypt.

The updated travel advice from the British government comes as the U.S. government started Sunday organizing the evacuation of its nationals from Egypt to safe-haven locations in Europe. The U.S. embassy in Cairo said U.S. nationals should call or email the State Department to make arrangements, although they would have to reimburse the cost of their charter flights.

The British government said it wouldn't be organizing special charter flights to evacuate U.K. nationals from Egypt and anyone wanting to leave would have to use commercial flights. However, U.K. commercial flights to the cities affected by the travel guidance were suffering disruptions.

Airline easyJet PLC (EZJ.LN), which flies to Luxor, Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada, said passengers already booked on flights to Luxor could change the date of travel for free or take a credit voucher to use on future easyJet flights. It is operating flights as normal to the two resort airports.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG's (LHA.XE) British airline bmi canceled its flights Sunday between London Heathrow and Cairo, having had a flight turned back mid-air Saturday. British Airways PLC (BAY.LN) said it changed the timetable of its flights to Cairo to take account of a curfew in the city and passengers should check the status of their flights before leaving for the airport. BA's flights to Sharm El Sheikh are unaffected, the airline said.

The outbreak of violence and demonstrations in Egypt is a blow to travel operators, which earlier this month were forced to cancel all flights to and from Tunisia and evacuate all British holidaymakers in the country after the U.K. government advised against all but essential travel due to violent street protests against the now-ousted president.

With that advice still in place, Thomas Cook has canceled all flights from the U.K. to Tunisia until after Feb. 27 and TUI Travel has canceled all flights until after Feb. 16 and is allowing customers who have already booked trips to the country up to Feb. 27 to amend their holidays for free.

-By Steve McGrath, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9284; steve.mcgrath@dowjones.com

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