North Cyprus transit flights from Turkey watch out!

Travellers from The Republic of Northern Cyprus(TRNC) will be classed as a red list country when entering the UK.

This means a 10-day paid for government monitored hotel quarantine stay upon arrival.

From Wednesday 12 May, 4 am Turkey will be on the ‘Red List’ which means travel is banned and you will only be allowed to enter the UK if you are a British or Irish National, or you have residence rights in the UK.

Any travellers looking to rush back before the deadline may struggle as online booking show no flight available on many Turkey to England flights.

Currently for an Istanbul – London (any airport options) one-way return ticket tomorrow normally a direct flight between 3.30hr-4hr journey, is showing transit flights via Europe with only one direct flight option with its ticket price starting from £660.

Everyone allowed to enter England who has visited or passed through a country where travel to the UK is banned in the last 10 days must:

• take a COVID-19 test and get a negative result during the 3 days before you travel.
• book your quarantine 14-days before arrival and complete a passenger locator form (PLF) 48 hours before landing
• quarantine for 10 full days in a managed quarantine hotel – the day of arrival in England counts as day 0
• take a coronavirus (COVID-19) test on or before day 2 and on or after day 8 of quarantining
• follow the national restrictions

Anyone that failures to do so could be faced with fines of up to £10,000 and even a prison sentence of up to 10 years.

TRAVELLERS FROM NORTH CYPRUS WATCH OUT!

Anyone flighting transit via Turkey from any of the countries even if they are on the green or amber list will also need to be careful.

A spokeswoman from the Department of Transport confirmed to Londra Gazete that any travellers could be subject to the travel ban when transiting via Turkey or any of the ‘Red List’ countries.

Saying ” A transit stop is a stop where passengers can get on or off the same part of the transport in which you are travelling. It can apply to ships, trains or flights. Your ticket should show if a stop is a transit stop.

The rules of a country or territory that you make a transit stop in could apply if:

• new passengers get on and are able to mix with you
• you or other passengers get off the transport you are on and mix with other people, then get on again

Making a transit stop would not affect what you have to do on arrival in England if, during the stop:

• no new passengers, who are able to mix with you, get on
• no-one on-board gets off and mixes with people outside
• passengers get off but do not get back on”

This means if you get off the plane or a new passenger joins the flight at the transit stop, you will be subjected to the travel ban.

So traveller from TRNC that transit at Turkey, which requires them to exit the plane for passport and security checks within the airport will be classed as having entered Turkey within the last 10 days.

HOW MUCH YOU’LL NEED TO PAY?

Booking hotel quarantine will also include the 2 PCR tests take on day 2 and 8.

A single adult is looking at a fee of £1,750, with plane tickets and other expenses this could see traveller paying well over £2,000.