FlyDubai’s top executive said yesterday that conditions for landing were appropriate when one of its flights crashed at a windy airport in southern Russia, even though three other carriers rerouted flights to other destinations.

It was a security consultant’s nightmare and a moment to savour — royalty, airline bosses, plane-makers and press hordes wedged into the same overcrowded room wanting to see the same thing: the colour of money in the oil-rich and fast-growing Gulf.

Hundreds of people packed into Cairo’s main airport today hoping for a flight out of Egypt but Western carriers were cancelling, delaying or suspending services after days of violent unrest.