KLM bans checked luggage on Cairo-Amsterdam flight

Number of European airlines readied to bring home thousands of tourists from Sinai peninsula resort of Sharm el-Sheikh

Dutch airline KLM Friday banned checked luggage on an early flight from Cairo to Amsterdam after Britain and the US said a bomb may have brought down a Russian plane in Egypt.

Passengers were only allowed to board flight KLM 554 with hand luggage, the airline said in a statement, adding that "based on national and international information and out of precaution KLM will not allow check-in luggage." The flight arrived in Amsterdam at 7:42 am.

Concerns over airline security have been mounting since the Russian plane crashed shortly after taking off from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on the Sinai peninsula last Saturday. All 224 people, mainly Russian tourists, on board were killed.

"KLM is monitoring the situation closely," the Dutch airline said in a statement.

But it stressed that "there are no restrictions regarding flying to and from the airport of Cairo."

And it added that flight KL553 due to leave later Friday from Amsterdam heading to Cairo "will be executed according to flight schedule."



That four-hour flight is due to leave Schipol airport -- Europe's fifth busiest air hub - at 8:55 pm and arrive in the Egyptian capital at 2:15 am Saturday.

The Islamic State (IS) jihadist group has claimed responsibility for Saturday's disaster, in which the Saint Petersburg-bound jet crashed minutes after taking off.

Cairo and Moscow have sought to downplay the suggestion of an attack.



But US President Barack Obama told a US radio station: "I think there is a possibility that there was a bomb on board and we are taking that very seriously," while emphasising it was too early to say for sure.