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British Airways launches a new route to Izmir, expands Bodrum and Dalaman

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British Airways has launched a new route to Izmir in Turkey.

It is part of a general step-up in Turkey services, with additional flights to Bodrum and Dalaman also added to the system.

Seats are now available for cash or Avios, although only fully flexible Business Class fares to Izmir were available yesterday for cash. The full Avios complement (eight Economy, four Business) was bookable.

British Airways flights to Izmir

Izmir

Izmir, to be fair, is very much a trial. Image above – there are some impressive historical sites here.

Flights will run from 18th May to 28th September.

There will be just one flight per week, departing from Heathrow.

Services will leave at 7.30am every Saturday (arrives 1.30pm) with the return leaving Izmir at 2.35pm to arrive back in London at 4.50pm.

Bodrum

BA has not made an official announcement about Bodrum so I am working off an X post by @SeanM1997.

Looking at SeatSpy, our preferred reward seat finding tool, extra flights seem to have appeared on Wednesday and Sunday throughout the Summer.

This is a Heathrow service.

Dalaman

As above, nothing is official but SeatSpy shows a lot of Avios availability on every Saturday over the summer which implies that this is a newly added flight.

This is also a Heathrow service.

If you move swiftly you should be able to lock in Avios seats for next summer on these routes.

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Comments (43)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • David says:
    22 Dec22 December 05:05

    Ephesus is brilliant but note the weather unlike we did, was like hell on Earth.

    • Michael Jennings says:
      22 Dec22 December 11:28

      I did I in April. Combined it with a couple of days in Kusadisi. It was lovely.

      Just why people go to the Mediterranean in summer when it is hellish and not at other times of the year when it is lovely is something of a mystery to me.

      • tony says:
        22 Dec22 December 11:48

        Gonna take a wild guess here but maybe because around half the population – so those with school aged kids, those caring for school aged kids, the kids themselves, teachers and their families etc – are constrained to six weeks of school holidays.

        The remaining half of the population are free to go whenever they want, evenly spread across the 20 week shoulder season from May to October with low fares, empty beaches and calm hotels. And I’m sure aside from employer-driven shut downs over the summer, no one ever said “oh, look, it’s three times the price in August and we can be forced to put up with other people’s kids if we go then. You never know, if we’re really lucky we might meet that family from the OnTheBeach advert”. Sorry to solve the mystery here but I really don’t think there’s the makings of a great detective series in this one…

        • Aston100 says:
          22 Dec22 December 11:57

          Brilliant answer Tony. Love it.

        • Alex Sm says:
          24 Dec24 December 07:56

          Actually summer is the best time for a holiday in the UK! Better to go to the beach when it’s cold and miserable here like now or any time between October and May, but not in July / August 🏖️

      • Alex Sm says:
        24 Dec24 December 07:53

        Self-inflicted damage… 🤦🏻‍♂️

    • Genghis says:
      22 Dec22 December 12:26

      We visited Selçuk in April and the weather was v pleasant. A bit cooler in Pamukkale then had snow in Cappadocia for our balloon ride. Really wanna go back.

      • Worzel says:
        22 Dec22 December 19:13

        Genghis!
        Just wondering whether Dad still receives his monthly copy of Gardeners World……..

  • Alex G says:
    22 Dec22 December 06:22

    Not sure why anyone would choose BA to fly to Turkey. It’s too far for a high density A320.

    • Erico1875 says:
      22 Dec22 December 06:51

      Because you can do CE for £2 , 50K avios and a 2 for 1 voucher

      • Erico1875 says:
        22 Dec22 December 07:16

        Cash cost over £2k from London closer to £3K from likes of EDI

      • Jonathan says:
        22 Dec22 December 07:33

        It’s better to use TK instead (unless you’re in dire need of TPs)

      • Alex G says:
        22 Dec22 December 12:43

        Sorry. I thought for a moment I was on a luxury travel site for high net worth individuals 😉

        • Rob says:
          22 Dec22 December 13:19

          Doesn’t mean you’d want to spend £700+ for 4 hours on a BAneo though!

          • Alex G says:
            22 Dec22 December 18:15

            Absolutely not. And that’s my point. I wouldn’t want to spend 4 hours on a high density BA A320. Other airlines are available, and Turkish is a particularly good one.

    • Peter says:
      22 Dec22 December 09:25

      Simply, because if you use Avios, it’s cheaper than TK.

    • CamFlyer says:
      22 Dec22 December 13:29

      BA’s competition for direct flights on these routes is mostly EZ, PS and a few others, not TK.

      • Paul says:
        22 Dec22 December 23:00

        In business and point to point the traffic is entirely TK. BA picks up little direct traffic but rely on transfer on LHR traffic.
        We used TK twice now over BA as flights included flat beds. Even their Dalaman service in covid was superb

  • ayearinmx says:
    22 Dec22 December 06:31

    I’d love BA to extend any of their non-IST flights into November, instead I’ll probably have to fly easyJet back

  • Amy C says:
    22 Dec22 December 06:47

    I went to Ephesus and the house of Virgin Mary the end of last month. Weather was perfect. Just the right tempt. Was my first time in Turkey and was a stop on a cruise ship. Really impressed and looking forward to IST in June now.

    • SMB says:
      22 Dec22 December 20:57

      @Amy C I did the same a few years back but avoided the cruise coach and high price by booking a personal tour guide. Met at the port, Mercedes 7 seater (only 2 of us) plus very knowledgeable guide who provided water plus entrance to the Terrace Houses for a total of €39. Avoided the tourist tat and Mary’s House which our guide said was an invention for the tourists as no-one knew whether she was ever there. Ephesus is amazing.

  • Ant says:
    22 Dec22 December 07:23

    Would like to visit Cappadoccia in 2024. Any suggestions on best route: to get there?

    • Jonathan says:
      22 Dec22 December 07:35

      It’s a very vastly large region, if you don’t rent a car, you’ll be using a lot of taxis

    • Dawn says:
      22 Dec22 December 07:43

      Flights go via Istanbul to either Nevsehir or Kaymakli. Both close to all of the Cappodocia sites. If you have time, rent a car and drive as Turkish roads are excellent and it’s easy driving. Car rental is not cheap if you hire in Cappodocia but much less in Istanbul. You could combine with visiting other areas of Turkey. Make sure you visit Urgup, Goreme, Uchisar, Kaymakli, Zelve at the very least.

    • tony says:
      22 Dec22 December 07:49

      We had a weekend in Istanbul first, then flew down to Kayseri. Had a private van take us to our hotel in Goreme (70 EUR each way, 5 pax). Then booked a private tour for the day (important as we were able to stay ahead of the big crowds) to Derinkuyu underground city, the Ihlara valley, then back via a caravanserai as those historical trade routes fascinate me.

      Spent another day wandering around Goreme, did some quadbiking etc. The bikes were however a bit beaten up. We travelled in August and it was incredibly dusty. Don’t recall the heat being a problem, but I was pleased we paid extra for one of the few hotels in Goreme that had a pool.

      The car & guide for the private tour cost us EUR140 (5 pax) which seemed reasonable, so depending on what you want to do I didn’t feel we missed out not hiring a vehicle ourselves. Some of the roads, especially heading down to the Ihlara valley, were the sort where I was very happy someone else was driving…

      • Richie says:
        22 Dec22 December 08:04

        There’s also Nevsehir airport NAV. BTW On my trip the balloons didn’t fly due to bad weather.

        • tony says:
          22 Dec22 December 08:14

          Indeed. If I recall NAV was slightly closer to Goreme but there was nothing in it in terms of flight price and frequency was slightly better to Kayseri.

          It was too windy for the balloons on one day of our trip, which meant the entire fleet was up the next day. Was a truly spectacular sight looking up (or down) from our hotel’s roof, but not sure i’d have been happy to take my family up in that.

    • Lottie says:
      22 Dec22 December 08:25

      We flew to Kayseri and spent two weeks driving across Turkey, flying back from one of the coastal resorts. Fab trip and lots to see apart from Cappadoccia, such as Pamukkale and Hierapolis. The interior is vastly different from the coast and well worth visiting.

    • lumma says:
      22 Dec22 December 09:02

      Chief hydrological engineers are well respected in Cappadocia

  • RV says:
    22 Dec22 December 07:37

    That’s interesting. I had BA flights booked to Antalya in June/24 and got an email earlier this week with the cancellation notice. Went to check my options and they have removed the Friday and Sunday flights to Antalya until mid July. Prob to open these new routes to other Turkish cities?

    • apbj says:
      22 Dec22 December 13:17

      Quite possibly. Antalya is one of the few parts of Turkey where resort hotels have remained at Greece/western Europe prices while everything else has noticeably softened. The weak lira means great value for those looking to rent a car or generally travel around, and the Izmir coast (Ephesus etc) is great for that. Can open-jaw with Istanbul as well.

  • RussellH says:
    22 Dec22 December 10:17

    You beat me to it!
    Only been to Türkiye once, and that was on avios to Izmir.
    Booked the CP in Izmir on points, hotel sent a car to meet us at the airport.
    It was fairly late autumn, IIRC, so temperatures were comfortable.
    Efes highly recommended.

    • Erico1875 says:
      22 Dec22 December 11:32

      Why not call it Turkey, as we do in English.
      Do you say Im off on holiday to
      Österreich (Austria) ,
      Shqipëria (Albania),
      Belgique (Belgium) ,
      Zhōngguó (China)
      or Deutschland (Germany)
      etc etc ? 🤔

      • Blair Waldorf Salad says:
        22 Dec22 December 11:54

        I think it’s officially filed with the UN as Turkiye now. Similar to how Cote d’Ivoire doesn’t officially get used in any form other than the French.

        • Charles Martel says:
          22 Dec22 December 18:23

          Does anyone use official names? Do people say they’re going to the Arab Republic of Egypt and returning home to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland? Is anyone upset or offended by German speakers referring to us as Großbritannien or Spaniards Gran Bretaña?

        • Paul says:
          22 Dec22 December 23:04

          The only thing that drives me mad is being referred to as English! British is fine with me but I am not English!

        • Alex Sm says:
          24 Dec24 December 07:51

          Exactly right so! Even Jet2 now uses Türkiye in adverts (though says Turkey in small font in brackets too)
          🇹🇷

      • Aston100 says:
        22 Dec22 December 11:58

        Erico, do you still say Holland?

  • Martin says:
    22 Dec22 December 14:34

    They’ve removed some flights to Antalya again..
    I’ve got 2 this year, both already cancelled for next May and October..

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