Kibkom North Cyprus Forum

According to http://www.gundemkibris.com/ercanda-oze ... 49831h.htm the new mainland owners of Ercan, Turyap, have increased the cost (according to the aircraft's weight) they charge to airline companies, from 3 US dollars per ton to 4 euros. It is not clear from the report if any other charges are incurred from using the airport.
In any case, this increase of nearly 80% in "weight charges" will very likely be passed on to passengers in the near future.

Sadly as per usual in times of hardship and dwindling profits. "lets put our prices up" is the rallying call. Tourism to the TRNC will never pick up unless concessions are made to encourage visitors.

Our travel experiences to the TRNC.

Being a regular visitor to the TRNC over the last twelve years and shortly moving there permanently. we are no longer surprised by any changes in, charges, rules and regulations, restrictions etc, etc regarding travel / holidaying in the TRNC.
Our first ever visit was with Istanbul Airlines, despite my dislike of flying, the two take offs and landings, the stop over on the tarmac, this paled to insignificance when we were taken in by the beauty of the Island and the friendliness of the Cypriot People, We have visited every year since, sometimes three times a year. How we miss the long gone days of suffering at the hands of KTHY travelling from Manchester to Ercan ( by today’s standards, that was luxury travel). How we waited with baited breath and waited and waited for the start up of the "New National Carrier" to be established?
Manchester airport, has in the summer season a once a week Wednesday flight by Pegasus to Ercan, which is not flexible enough for our holiday entitlement. There is also a daily service with Turkish Airlines, transfer at Istanbul for a connection to Ercan, fantastic, only an hour transfer time at Istanbul! Yes ONE whole hour. I would allow myself more than an hour in the UK for a change of train on a journey of less than 200 miles, let alone two international flights of 2000 miles. Our journey in May 2012 we made the connection for Ercan but our luggage did not. In September 2012 neither our luggage or ourselves made the connection, a one hour transfer now becomes a five and a half hour wait at Istanbul Airport.
January 2013 once again the inbound flight to Manchester from Istanbul was half an hour late, at this stage we knew we would never make the connection at Istanbul, how right we were, another five and a half hour wait at Istanbul.

I believe the same one hour between connections applies for transfers from Birmingham Airport also. I wonder if the person(s) responsible for the scheduling of connecting flights have ever had to make such a journey.
Our next visit in May, we are not willing to put up with the palaver of flying via Istanbul as we know the connection will be missed, so reluctantly we have booked with Monarch flying into Larnaca, which is significantly cheaper.

I agree, I fly into Larnaca now as I was sick to death of the delays and filth on the plane flying with all the TRNC carriers into Ercan and of course the cost. It is cheaper to fly BA into Larnaca, decent flight times, good aircraft, friendly staff and good food and a movie as well, the price may see to be a little higher but everything taken in to account it works out about the same. A happy frequent flyer now and I get airmiles.

belle wrote: It is cheaper to fly BA into Larnaca ... the price may see to be a little higher but everything taken in to account it works out about the same.

I'm confused Belle.

iancrumpy wrote:

belle wrote: It is cheaper to fly BA into Larnaca ... the price may see to be a little higher but everything taken in to account it works out about the same.

I'm confused Belle.

Oh gosh Ian why are you confused, tell me and I will hopefully unconfuse you.

Sorry Belle, but how can it be "cheaper" and "the same price" at the same time?

And if you must know Belle, I feel your comment "filth on the plane flying with all the TRNC carriers" is offensive to the people I know and love

When my daughter came for Christmas it took her 8 hours to get here from Stanstead due to a two hour wait in Istanbul with Atlas jet.It was nearly £400 for the ticket. Quicker and cheaper to go to America. No one will be able to afford to come here soon.

We paid £469 for 2 flights with Turkish Airlines in November from Manchester, 1 hr at Istanbul no problem in fact the plane left 10mins early because as soon as it was full the plane took off. 23kg luggage and 10kg hand luggage and we had a lovely low fat meal as ordered, on return 1.1/4hr to change planes again no problem. If we had gone to Larnaca we would have had less luggage allowance had to pay for a meal and then at least £100 for a transfer, so no go for us.

Must admit i prefer Turkish airlines, food and service. Although I too have been victim of missing the connection at Istanbul. With regard to BA I thought they stopped food......last time we used them was at the time of the change over to not offering " proper meals , although we had paid for one and ended up with a chocolate cookie as their idea of food,plus the BA staff were not as friendly as the Turkish Airlines.
TA and KLM are my preference now both offering excellent service. IMHO.

iancrumpy wrote:Sorry Belle, but how can it be "cheaper" and "the same price" at the same time?

And if you must know Belle, I feel your comment "filth on the plane flying with all the TRNC carriers" is offensive to the people I know and love

Ian my apologies for the poor way I typed that response, after I read it again it didn't make sense, BA, after all the added extras is about the same price, hope that clears that up

My other remark I stand by, I am not saying all people chuck their rubbish on the floor but one hell of a lot do and the planes are filthy upon landing, the toilets smell so bad I have had to ask on most flights for air freshener and the loos are frequently blocked up.

LooseBoots wrote:Must admit i prefer Turkish airlines, food and service. Although I too have been victim of missing the connection at Istanbul. With regard to BA I thought they stopped food......last time we used them was at the time of the change over to not offering " proper meals , although we had paid for one and ended up with a chocolate cookie as their idea of food,plus the BA staff were not as friendly as the Turkish Airlines.
TA and KLM are my preference now both offering excellent service. IMHO.

Looseboots I fly with BA all the time and have done for the last couple of years, I have always received free food (good quality), drinks, newspapers etc, I have never heard of them stopping food.

belle wrote:

LooseBoots wrote:Must admit i prefer Turkish airlines, food and service. Although I too have been victim of missing the connection at Istanbul. With regard to BA I thought they stopped food......last time we used them was at the time of the change over to not offering " proper meals , although we had paid for one and ended up with a chocolate cookie as their idea of food,plus the BA staff were not as friendly as the Turkish Airlines.
TA and KLM are my preference now both offering excellent service. IMHO.

Looseboots I fly with BA all the time and have done for the last couple of years, I have always received free food (good quality), drinks, newspapers etc, I have never heard of them stopping food.

Well they must had changed their minds then. It has been a few years since we tried them, but it was the period when they were going through cost saving exercises when it was revealed that they they were they highest paid cabin crew in the industry and that they were to cut the number of cabin crew, have the head steward mucking in and also cut out their meals. Unless you were club or business class. That`s one of the reason we stopped using them. As I said a cookie on one way and a poorly made roll on the return. But more than happy with KLM and Turkish Airlines, who were voted number one in Europe.

So - when all is said and done which is the cheapest/ most pleasant/ most convenient option flying from Man or Birmingham ?

Turkish Airlines, European Airline of the year for last TWO years.

Other half has just flown to MAN, cost about 700tl return. One hour between flights at IST, food outstanding and free, free entertainment. Many people we have spoken to now use Turkish as a first choice, especially to MAN and BHX.

Could not agree more .

Good deals on lastminute for Turkish Airways in Mar Apr £138 return to Gatwick.
I didn't check other destinations or months but their site is always worth a look

I recently used Turkish Airlines into Ercan from BHX. Flight slightly delayed by late inbound from snowy Istanbul, but easily made the connection at Istanbul as the hand baggage x-ray machines were quick. Both flights were impressive, comfortable and the free food, drinks and entertainment systems impressive. The cost was cheaper than Monarch, the 23 kilo allowance helpful and everything was included in the price without having to pay for extras like hold baggage, food or drink. We also had no transfer costs from Larnaca to factor into our travel.

Very, very impressed and will use them from now on.

Sandman wrote:So - when all is said and done which is the cheapest/ most pleasant/ most convenient option flying from Man or Birmingham ?

Definitely Turkish for us, agree with everything Sandford says, we had the best flight we have every had and we holiday in Turkey twice a year Monarch & Thomas Cook are way behind charging £19 for baggage each way £76 for the 2 of us flight coming up £510 then total £586 to Dalaman in June but we have to pay it because we don't have a choice from Manchester.

I give my vote to Turkish Airlines too. Best food and service. Change over at Istanbul not really a problem because the airport is great for shopping and as Premier HSBC get to use the lounge for free food and drink (albeit, can be difficult to find a seat a busy times). Have never known Turkish airlines toilets to be blocked or smelly. As stated previously, they have been awarded best European airline for two years running, so they must be good.

Zarafat, you are correct, I didn't mean to include Turkish Airlines in my post, they are very good.

belle wrote: I didn't mean to include Turkish Airlines in my post, they are very good.

belle in message 3 wrote: I was sick to death of the delays and filth on the plane flying with all the TRNC carriers into Ercan.

Belle, considering there are no actual "TRNC carriers" we presumed you meant airlines using Ercan ... and the one that uses Ercan most frequently is Turkish Airlines ...

Couple of questions:

1. Are these charges likely to be imposed retrospectively? I've already booked and paid for a number of flights to and from Ercan later this year.

2. Slightly off topic, is there any way that my daughter can use the HSBC lounge in my (cardholder) absence? - she has a 5 hour wait at Istanbul en route to Ercan. I seem to remember that you could pay to use the lounge. Anyone know?

come_on_aylin wrote:Are these charges likely to be imposed retrospectively? I've already booked and paid for a number of flights to and from Ercan later this year.

In the report Eileen, there is no mention of charges being passed on to the passengers - though at some point we will have to pay for it. I very much doubt it will affect the flights you booked.

Thanks Ian, we'll just have to wait and see. It wouldn't be the first time, if the charges are high it is difficult for airlines to absorb these extra costs without passing them on. Let's hope they don't (pass them on).

Anyone can use the HSBC Lounge at Ataturk International for a charge and at their discretion. Personally I do not think the charge is worth it, not cheap. Only alternative would be to give her your card and PIN. Not a good idea!!

Ian, Pegasus use Ercan and Atlas, those were the carriers I was referring to and of course the old KTHY was the absolute worst.

If my post upset you and your loved ones then I am sorry but I am entitled to my opinion and trust me a lot say the same as me.

Considering the landing charges are worked out at MOTW (Max take off weight) and the MOTW of commercial airliners landing at Ercan vary between 60 - 80 tons, the price rise in question would hardly effect the prices of tickets. 3 USD = 2.2 EU, the price rise to 4 EU means a rise of 1.8 EU.

Current Airbus and Boeing models used from Ercan usually take an avarege of around 160-180 passengers on board. A simple calculation shows there is no real concern for alarm! For an 80 ton aircraft the extra landing charge will be 144 EU - and that works out to be 0.85 EU per passenger seat. Even if the airlines wish to cover for empty seats, the price reflected on a ticket should not be more than 1-2 EU.
Meaning a rise of between 2.5 - 5.00 TL per passenger.

CIH
No chance of her getting my card. She'll just have to find somewhere to sit and read for a few hours.

Bigoz
Good to hear that the rise is insignificant, as long as the airlines don't use it as an excuse to introduce a more significant increase.

bigOz wrote: Meaning a rise of between 2.5 - 5.00 TL per passenger.

That's reassuring Özer, but in my defence I thought that (wrongly) aircraft weighed a lot more.

I presume then there are other charges for airlines companies to pay - they surely won't just be paying between 240 and 320 euros (ie. 4x60 to 4x80) for one plane to pass through Ercan. There must be other charges incurred. Have you any idea how much on average an airline would pay for one airplane using, say Ercan - just a ballpark figure is enough.

Hi Ian The (Turkish) link you provided talks about the increase in "landing and parking" charges of the aircraft arriving / taking off from Ercan. There are other airport charges such as ground taxiing, air traffic control, security, meteorological services etc. as well as many other services usually provided by subcontractors.

Although in Ercan some of these are carried out by the airlines own personnel, in busy big airports many prefer, for example, using the airport's own staff/services or subcontractors for ticketing, baggage handling, ticket control/boarding, and more importantly, aircraft cabin cleaning and catering - all at an extra cost of course. The last two are usually done by subcontracting private organisations. At busier airports (such as Atatürk) one can add maintenance and engineer contracts by major airlines using the same type of aircraft or other private companies providing such a service.

I would have thought one of the bigger charges would be, for example, the use of air-traffic control. But because the charges reflect the intensity of assistance provided by ground or air traffic controllers at a particular airport, they are naturally a lot cheaper in Ercan than in Istanbul, London or Paris. So really, I have not got a clue as to what a ballpark figure would be for Ercan. It all depends on who provides the services and what all the individual charges mentioned above add up to.

Hi Özer,
I guess then the overall charge to the airline would have to be quite a few thousand euros. Now, if those other charges were also increased by 80% then we could be talking big increases in the cost of flight tickets. Herneyse, this is all hypothetical - hopefully the new owners are only going to increase the "weight charge".
Özer, maybe we can discuss this more next weekend when Havva and I will in the Girne area - we'd certainly like to see you again before I head back.
Ian

I'll look forward to that! I'll call you later on tonight