Following the introduction of Scotland’s hotel quarantine one week ago, Turkish Airlines has wasted no time in suspending its Istanbul-Edinburgh service.

Media reports told of a near empty Istanbul-Edinburgh flight as most travellers decided not to travel.

The Scotsman reported an Edinburgh airport spokesperson as saying, “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 medium term connectivity.”

Certainly Scotland’s hotel quarantine policy means there are barely any direct international flights serving the capital at the present time.

A glance at the Edinburgh schedules will confirm that airlines have either suspended or cancelled most direct international flights.

Alternatively connections via London are offered.

According to Edinburghlive.com the capital’s airport recently recorded its lowest number of passengers since 1995.

One presumes Turkish Airlines will suspend its Edinburgh route until such time as the Scottish government relaxes its hotel quarantine policy.

However judging by reports from Turkey its national airline plans to resume flights to Edinburgh from both Istanbul and Antalya during peak summer.

Of course this would depend on what restrictions, if any, are in place at that time. It is a fluid situation. Only this morning I was reading that there may be no foreign holidays allowed until August.

UPDATE: As I noted above the Scottish situation remains fluid and there can be no guarantees.

Since my original report The Scotsman’s Alastair Dalton reports that First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said that any easing of travel restrictions has been postponed indefinitely. It’s a trade-off to help hasten lifting of other Covid curbs.

turkishairlines.com