Flights from Turkey to Edinburgh Airport cancelled due to hotel quarantine policy

Flights from and to Istanbul from Scotland’s busiest airport have been cancelled by the airline following teething problems with the new hotel quarantine policy which sees anyone arriving into Scotland from outside the Common Travel Area forced to isolate for ten days at a cost of £1,750.

A young family including a baby and a toddler and another male passenger who arrived from Istanbul on Monday were the first to enter Scotland’s managed isolation, but only after a man and his daughter were mistakenly told to isolate after arriving from the US via Dublin.

Edinburgh Airport have blamed the cancellation of the weekly flight to Istanbul directly on the hotel quarantine policy and said they had concerns more airlines would follow suit.

They also called for more support for the aviation industry from the Scottish Government.

A spokesperson said: “This decision is the first direct consequence of the quarantine hotel policy and we fear this will be repeated by other carriers, impacting on jobs and short and long term connectivity.

“We of course understand the priority given to protecting public health and whatever steps are taken now to prepare the economy for a sustained period of recovery should not distract health professionals from the important job to save lives and protect the NHS.

“However, if we are going to use New Zealand as a blueprint on suppression then we must also follow their act in support for aviation. Aviation facilitates many things, such as tourism which contributes more than £6 billion to the economy. We cannot afford to throw that away because we failed to invest in protecting our hard-earned direct connectivity."

Concerns were also raised by aviation sources earlier this week about the likelihood of travellers taking advantage of a loophole in the rules whereby those arriving into Scotland via a connecting flight from Ireland or England do not have to isolate.

Travellers from Greece and Australia were understood to have taken advantage of this loophole on Monday, the first day of the policy.

Responding, a Scottish Government spokesperson said the policy was having the intended effect of reducing the number of international passengers.

He said: “The intention of this policy is to reduce non-essential international travel and the importation of new COVID-19 variants, and this is exactly what is currently happening with the marked reduction we are seeing in passenger numbers.

“We are acutely aware of the impact these necessary measures are having on the aviation sector, and we a providing a range of support including maintaining our package of Business Rates Relief for airports.

"An aviation working group to address issues faced as a result of these measures is also being established, and we will shortly consult airports on this. We continue to work closely with the airports on specific route recovery opportunities to help ensure airlines reintroduce routes when circumstances allow.”

Turkish Airlines have been contacted for comment.

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