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By Sarah Young
LONDON, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Shares in holiday companies ThomasCook and TUI Group fell on Thursday afterBritain stopped flights to a major Egyptian tourist resort,raising the possibility of cancellations and a drop in demandfor holidays to Egypt.
Britain said on Wednesday it believed there was asignificant possibility that an explosive device caused thecrash of a Russian plane in Egypt on Oct. 31, and advisedagainst travel through the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Shares in Thomas Cook fell 5.8 percent to 113.9 pence inearly trading, while bigger rival TUI lost 1.9 percent to 1,138pence on the anticipated hit to their businesses.
British travel association ABTA estimated there were about9,000 customers currently on holiday in Sharm, plus an unknownnumber of holidaymakers who had travelled there independently.
Thomas Cook and TUI, Europe's two biggest holiday companies,said in statements they had cancelled all flights and holidaysfrom Britain to Sharm el Sheikh, a popular destination forNorthern Europeans seeking winter sun, up until Nov. 12.
Both companies said customers who had booked during thattime would be refunded.
"Sharm el Sheikh being closed is undoubtedly going to costthem (Thomas Cook and TUI) some money," said Numis analyst WynEllis.
Thomas Cook had said in September it was seeing a pick-up indemand for holidays to Egypt, which hosted 14.7 million touristsin 2010 but has seen those numbers fall to around 10 million dueto unrest since then.
British low-cost airline easyJet said it cancelledfive flights to Sharm from Britain on Thursday. (Reporting by Sarah Young, Additional reporting by VictoriaBryan; Editing by Mark Potter)
