READERS who regularly travel through Bopdrum airport to and from the UK have raised worries that airlines are limiting their choices for the 2017 tourism season.

A number pointed out that the main headline operators were limiting choices in terms of where they flew out from next year in an apparent decision reflecting on the tourism crisis that has gripped Turkey.

Voices looked at Thomas Cook flights into Bodrum next year, and found flights were being limited from London Gatwick and Stansted; Birmingham and Manchester.

A Voices reader commented: “What on earth is going on with the charter flights.

“I have emailed Jet2, Thomas Cook and Thomsons and all have confirmed that they will NOT be flying from Newcastle to Bodrum next year.”

She added: “I cannot for the life of me understand why as the majority of flights are full. In fact my brother in law had to fly scheduled flights last week via Amsterdam and Istanbul due to there being no seats available.

“I also heard that on September 5, people at Newcastle were being offered £200 and a free transfer to Bristol as the flight was overbooked. It beggars belief.

“I’m sure this will have a marked effect on tourism in Altinkum and other resorts around the Bodrum area as a lot of tourists fly from Newcastle. We can only keep our fingers crossed that other airlines step in.”

Jet2’s snub

While readers in the north of England were feeling aggrieved, those in the south were finding out this week that Jet2 had announced it was would be operating from Stansted next year and operating 21 flights – but Turkey was largely anonymous in the 21 destinations it was flying to.

Jet2’s destinations from Stansted included Lanzarote, Malaga, Alicante, Dubrovnik, Faro and Ibiza.

The company has expanded its trade sales team with the appointment of a sales executive dedicated to Stansted. Flights will operate on six Jet2.com and Jet2.holidays’ new Boeing 737s, delivered last week.

Flights will start on March 30 2017 to Alicante, Crete (Heraklion),Dubrovnik, Faro, Fuerteventura,  Girona (Costa Brava), Gran Canaria, Ibiza, Kos, Lanzarote, Larnaca, Madeira, Majorca, Malaga, Menorca, Paphos, Pula, Reus, Rhodes, Tenerife and Zante.

In the three months to the end of June, overall bookings at Thomas Cook slid 5% as a jump in travel to Spain and the US failed to offset a drop in holidays to Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia, all of which have been hit by terrorist attacks.

So far this year bookings to Turkey were down by up to 40% after Thomas Cook cut the number of flights to the country.