Corendon announced on Friday that she will start conducting holiday flights to Antalya, Bodrum and Dalaman in Turkey again from 10 July, despite a negative travel advice for that country. The decision to resume flights to these places was made after consultation with the Turkish authorities, the organization said.
On the same day, Corendon announced in a press statement that she was “confronted with widely divergent responses” to the decision. “Many of our customers have responded positively and hundreds of people have already booked air travel to Turkey today. On the other hand, there have been disapproving reactions from the government and the cabinet. Prime Minister Rutte indicated in his weekly press conference that he asked us the initiative is unwise and irresponsible, “the travel company writes in a statement.
An ‘orange’ travel advice applies to Turkey. This means that the Dutch government advises against unnecessary trips. “However, this advice applies to all countries outside of Europe. We cannot escape the impression that this is a generic decision that has no direct relationship to the actual health situation in the individual countries. And therefore not to the Turkish tourist areas. From all sources available to us, the picture emerges that Turkish coastal areas have a low number of contaminations and are comparable to many European countries that do have a relaxed travel regime with ‘yellow travel advice’, Corendon continues.
Furthermore, there would be unfair competition on the routes between Turkey and the Netherlands, as Turkish holiday airlines Pegasus and Sun Express will in the near future operate daily flights between the Netherlands and Turkey to, among other things, the holiday destinations such as Antalya and Izmir. “They are not getting in the way, and we are increasingly seeing consumers who would like to book a holiday to Turkey with us, move to these airlines for a single flight, and then book the hotel elsewhere,” complains Corendon. Travelers on the flights should not be asked for their reason for traveling. Corendon also says that he does not understand why KLM and Turkish Airlines are allowed to fly to Turkey and that there are apparently no problems with flying to Sweden and the United Kingdom, for which an orange travel advice also applies.
According to the organization from Lijnden, the government reports on the one hand that the travel industry is one of the industries that is hit hardest by the corona crisis. At the same time, the industry is being thwarted with slow recovery and start-up.
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