From 4am on 12 May, Turkey will be on the banned travel list red list.
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.
In a rush to travel back to the UK before the ban comes into effect, yesterday there was just one direct flight available from Istanbul – London (any airport options) one-way return ticket for today.
Normally a direct flight between Istanbul and London is a 3.30hr-4hr journey, however, more than six flights for today showed transit flights via Europe with journey times take twice as long.
Currently, one flight direct from Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen(SAW) Airport taking off at 14.10 local time has ticket availability which would get a passenger back before the 4 am deadline.
There are no available flights from Anataya, Ankara or Izmir to either London, Manchester or East Middles Airports.
Those that do take off today included at least one transit stop and the arrival date and time would but them pass the deadline, passengers would need to follow the rule for the red list for this.
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.
TRANSIT FLIGHTS 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.