Hundreds of passengers waited more than 20 hours in Dalaman

The Excel flight from Dalaman had been due to leave on Monday but the flight was delayed due to technical problems.

Another 248 people had been due to fly into Nottingham East Midlands Airport (NEMA) from Egypt on Tuesday morning.

The Thomsonfly flight was also delayed due to technical problems but passengers have now arrived back.

'Unmitigated nightmare'

Both the airlines involved said they had done everything they could but emphasised safety was paramount.

Ken Warburton, one of the passengers stranded in Turkey, said: "(There were) very few chairs, marble floors, no water, no facilities. It was an absolute unmitigated nightmare."

The airline company Excel apologised to passengers waiting in Dalaman and told them the flight could not leave until early on Tuesday evening.

But a company spokesperson said the airline did offer some passengers seats on flights to Newcastle and Manchester on Monday night which were refused.

Thomsonfly said a technical fault developed as the plane prepared to take off from El Sheikh.

The company said it had trying hard to get passengers back as soon as possible, could not fly them back before Tuesday evening - almost a day late.