Twenty-nine flights are planned from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to Britain Friday for tourists stranded by security concerns over the apparent downing of a Russian airliner, an Egyptian official said.

Large crowds gathered at the airport anxiously awaiting word of when they could fly home after Britain announced it would lift the suspension of flights out of Sharm that it imposed on Wednesday.

"Sixty-four flights are planned out of Sharm el-Sheikh today, including 29 organised by British companies to take home British tourists whose holidays have ended," civil aviation ministry spokesman Hossam Kamal said in a statement.