I don't do charters. Haven't been on one for years - THY and Easyjet for me when travelling to Turkey, although EJ's one o'clock in the morning arrival at Edinburgh pushes them almost into charter territory...
That said, the majority of seasonal visitors to Turkey arrive by way of charter airlines and it seems that this year the cost of flights has pretty much gone through the roof. A lot of regular visitor I know in the UK have been moaning about it and also a few on here have not been happy with current prices.
The charter operators might argue that there is less demand and this pushes up prices (some destinations with fewer flights are often more expensive than busier ones) but that one doesn't wash because even though they've cut the capacity on most Turkish routes this season, its still a popular destination.
They also might argue that the weak pound against the dollar has pushed up prices as they have to buy aviation fuel in dollars - sorry guys, that one's a non starter as well. The scheduled companies have to do the same and there hasn't been the same increases charter customers are seeing.
If you ask a representative of the charter companies I'm sure they could come up with a dozen other reasons why the price increases are (in their eyes) justified.
What they probably wouldn't be so keen to tell you is that the Turkish governments Tourism subsidy of $6,000 per scheduled (with a small "s" ) charter flight has been extended to the end of this year. This is charter companies only, THY, EJ and Jet2 don't receive this - I must admit, I previously thought they did.
Not only has it been extended, if they manage to get over 150 bodies in an aircraft with a capacity of over 200, it increases by 30%! You can guarantee they'll all be using their Airbus 321's and Boeing 757's on the Turkish flights this year. Basically, if they have a three quarters full A321, they'll score about $50 per head.
The airports where this subsidy applies to are Antalya, Gazipaşa, Dalaman, Izmir, Bodrum and Kütahya. It'll shortly be available to Denizli, Isparta and a handful of other airports, mainly in the Black Sea region.
Published in the official gazette on the 15th Feb.
JF