France advises against Sharm el-Sheikh travel as UK resumes flights

France on Thursday advised its nationals against all non-essential travel to Sharm el-Sheikh following the crash of a Russian passenger jet that took off from the Egyptian resort at the weekend.

The advice from the French foreign ministry, updated on its website on Thursday, also relates to the town of Taba on the Sinai Peninsula.

The ministry said only "a few dozen" French citizens are currently in Sharm el-Sheikh.

The advice was changed "as a precautionary measure until the results of the investigation are known," the ministry said.

The decision was issued as the UK said it would start flying its nationals back from Sharm el-Sheikh on Friday.

London had moved to cancel all UK-bound flights after saying there was a "significant possibility" that militant activity brought down the Metrojet flight on Saturday, killing all 224 people on board.

The move left some 20,000 British nationals stranded at the airport, with many more in the UK having to cancel their flights out.

On Thursday, after a meeting between UK Prime Minister David Cameron and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in London, British security officials said flights would resume on Friday after an agreement with Egypt to further "strengthen" security procedures.

France has so far not joined the United States and Britain in expressing the opinion that the crash of the Russian plane was caused by an attack.