Domestic flights restart, bus companies cry foul

Bilal Eksi, GM, Turkish Airlines: “Due to ventilating systems inside planes, and scientific research, no immediate decision has been taken for social distancing measures during flights.”

in Turkey restarted flights as the AIRLINES normalization period began. Airplanes will be flying at full capacity and tickets on the majority of the flights have already sold out for the first week. Despite the high demand, prices are 20 percent below June 2019. Due to the low prices for flights, bus companies say they are not able to compete, according to the Coacher Federation of Turkey (T•FED). Buses are currently working at 50 percent capacity due to cornovirus restrictions and T•FED called for imposing the “window seat” limitation on airlines as well.

The price of one-way flight tickets ranged between TRY 150 and TRY 389. The government’s decision to lower VAT on domestic flight tickets from 18 percent to one percent contributed to the lower prices. •n June 1, Pegasus Airlines charged TRY 253 for a one-way ticket from Istanbul to Izmir while Turkish Airlines charged TRY 252 and AnadoluJet TRY 212. The price of a one-way bus ticket was TRY 160.

AIRLINES REFUSE TO FOLLOW SOCIAL DISTANCING

•n domestic bus rides, passengers are asked to leave the seat next to them empty, as well as high-speed trains. However, airlines are not required to follow the same rules as there are HEPA filters on planes that purify the air. “Due to ventilating systems inside planes, and scientific research, no immediate decision has been taken for social distancing measures during flights,” Bilal Eksi, General Manager of Turkish Airlines, wrote on Twitter. HEPA systems filter the air automatically once every three minutes and bring up to 60 percent more fresh air filtered through the engine, according to Mehmet Nane, General Manager of Pegasus Airlines. “Social distancing may provide some psychological relief but out planes are priced for 189 seats, so if we reduce it to 120 seats there will be a price increase eventually.”

BUS COMPANIES OBJECT TO DISTANCING RULES

Birol •zcan, President of T•FED, believes the 50 percent capacity rule for buses should be removed. •zcan said bus companies are having trouble competing against flights and trains due to Turkish Airlines’ TRY 340 base price. The demand for domestic travel will continue following the travel allowance for people aged 65 and over, according to •zcan. “A total of 230 buses left the Istanbul bus terminal on Friday last week,” he said.