Simon Calder's Holiday Helpdesk: Am I OK with this flight to Turkey?

Simon Calder

Simon Calder is Travel Editor at Large for The Independent, writing a weekly column, various articles and features as well as filming a weekly video diary. Every Sunday afternoon, Simon presents the UK's only radio travel phone-in programme called The LBC Travel Show with Simon Calder (97.3 FM). He is a regular guest on national TV, often seen on BBC Breakfast, Daybreak, ITV News and Sky News. He is often interviewed on BBC Radio, particularly for BBC Radio 4’s You & Yours programme and BBC Five Live.

More articles from this journalist

Follow Simon Calder

Q I am shortly going to Turkey, flying with Pegasus Airlines. I would like to know if they are OK.

Sue Mills

A Pegasus is a young and professional airline, using modern Boeing 737s - the same type as Ryanair - to connect the UK with Turkey and beyond. It flies from Stansted to Sabiha Gokcen airport in Istanbul. This is the alternative airport for Turkey's largest city, and bears the same relationship to Istanbul's main airport, Ataturk, as Stansted does to Heathrow. As with other budget airlines, you pay extra for food and drink on board - but Pegasus offers the interesting option of ordering meals in advance through its website, flypgs.com.

Pegasus is providing useful competition for Turkish Airlines, which is also expanding rapidly - taking advantage of the strong Turkish economy, and a relatively low cost structure, to take on the giant Gulf airlines to Asia and Africa. Pegasus also operates to a wide range of destinations in the Middle East and bordering the Black Sea. It has just announced its expansion to Omsk in Russia, offering what I believe to be the only one-stop connection between Essex and Siberia.

For British travellers, a stopover of a night or two in Istanbul allows you to explore one of the world's most fascinating cities. And, if you are buying a through flight to a long-haul destination, it reduces the amount of Air Passenger Duty from £65 or more to just £13.

Get your summer started with British Military Fitness

BMF is the UK’s biggest and best loved outdoor fitness classes

Visit York Prizes & offers Business videos

Visit York

Find out what The Independent's resident travel expert has to say about one of the most beautiful small cities in the world

Military Fitness Prizes & offers Business videos

Enter the latest Independent competitions

Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.

Military Fitness Visit York Business videos

Business videos from commercial thought leaders

Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.

Military Fitness Visit York Prizes & offers

Independent Dating

Show Me

Between: and

Location:

By clicking 'Search' you
are agreeing to our
Terms of Use.

Food Technology Teacher

£26400 - £36000 per annum: Randstad Education Maidstone: An Independant school...

Travel Consultant - Career In The Travel Industry!! Full Training Provided!!

£22k-£25k + comm + benefits: Blue Travel Solutions: LOOKING FOR A CAREER IN TH...

Caribbean Specialists !! Excellent Salary!!!

£26k-£29k + excellent comm: Blue Travel Solutions: We have a high-end luxury t...

Travel Agent

£23000 - £27000 per annum + (£15K + Uncapped Commission & Benefits): Flight Ce...

The price of pacifism

From the Second World War refusenik to the 19-year-old Israeli, Holly Williams talks to five people who risked shame and suffering to take a stand as conscientious objector.

'It was mass hysteria': Jason Isaacs on groupies, theatre bores and snogging James Bond

Jason Isaacs: Groupies, theatre bores and James Bond

To millions, Jason Isaacs is one of Harry Potter's arch enemies – but his wife prefers him as a Scottish TV detective.

Notes from a small island: Is Sealand an independent 'micronation' or an illegal fortress?

Sealand: 'Micronation' or illegal fortress?

Thomas Hodgkinson spent a week at the tiny platform off the Suffolk coast to find out.

Mark Hix cooks with cutlets and ribs

If you ignore cutlets and ribs, you'll risk missing out on some delicious and easy meals, says our chef.

The experts' guide to summer

From getting fit for the beach to recreating that Olympic buzz

Legend of James Hunt has set Hollywood hearts racing

Early glimpses of Ron Howard's film Rush suggest it will portray Hunt as a high-living lothario, with an insatiable appetite for partying.

Macklemore: 'I don't have moderation'

The next Vanilla Ice or the next Eminem? Macklemore doesn't have a record contract – but he does have the UK's biggest-selling single of the year.

Don't be shy: Bill Granger's Sri Lankan recipes

Sri Lankan cuisine is light, sunny, wonderfully spiced – and so easy to cook from scratch. Just as soon as you've broken into the coconut, that is.

Sir James Dyson’s latest project: Cleaning up hospitals

Doctors are hailing the revamp of a Bath neonatal unit, where babies sleep more and feed better, as the model for patient care

One man returns to Argentina's town that drowned

Epecuen was submerged under 10 metres of water in 1985. Now the floods have gone – and 83-year-old Pablo Novak has moved back in

The real thing?

Historian publishes Coca Cola's 'secret formula'

Gordon Ramsey's worst nightmare: A restaurant he cannot save

Gordon Ramsay's worst nightmare: A restaurant he cannot save

The pugnacious chef finally met a shambolic restaurant he couldn't save. John Walsh on when TV makover refuseniks fight back

Join Ryanair! See the world! But we're only paying you for nine months a year

Glamorous myth of the flight attendant lifestyle undermined by angry employee's claims of 'exploitation'

Braising saddles: Did the recent furore scupper sales of horse meat? Neigh, far from it!

Braising saddles: How to cook horse meat

Did the recent furore scupper sales of horse meat? Neigh, far from it! Will Coldwell hoofs it to the kitchen.

Why bitters are back on the bar

A few little drops pack a big punch in cocktails. No wonder we're learning to love them again...