Minister for Tourism and Environment Unal Ustel, speaking from Istanbul has said he was asking Turkish officials to scrap airport taxes, with the hope of also slashing air fares.
He said: “We are currently working on a programme for a visit to London where we hope to see British parliamentarians and peers to discuss what can be done to scrap the re-screening requirement of passengers flying to the UK from Ercan during touchdowns in Turkey. This is causing a lot of time to be wasted and creating hardship for tourists and other travellers”.
Asked to comment on peak season Ercan flights costing over £500, Ustel said:
“This is expensive. We have been speaking with my Turkish counterpart in Ankara and with Turkish Airlines officials, and have requested that airport taxes be scrapped in order to help reduce prices”.
However, critics slammed the initiative saying that scrapping airport taxes was not possible because they were privately managed. The tourism minister disagreed, saying that he did not accept that ‘nothing can be done’.
Cyprus Today
