Does Pegasus fly nonstop to the UAE?

Have a question? Ask our expert Simon Calder

Turkish jewel: Istanbul is a stopoff for Abu Dhabi flights (Reuters)

Q I read in the travel section of a different newspaper that Pegasus Airlines is planning direct flights from Stansted to Abu Dhabi, but when I went online to have a look it appears we have to go via Istanbul. Can you clarify, please?

Roy G

A Pegasus is a thriving Turkish low-cost airline, with its main base at Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen Airport (the one on the Asian side of the Bosphorus, rather than the old Istanbul Ataturk Airport just west of the city, or the new Istanbul Airport).

Last year it launched a three-times times weekly flight from Istanbul to Abu Dhabi and, at the time, promised “connections from London Stansted Airport”.

With the airline’s Airbus A320 and Boeing 737-800 fleet, the prospect of covering the 3,408 miles from Stansted to Abu Dhabi is unlikely to happen any time soon. But Pegasus is still an excellent way to reach the Emirate. The journey is split into two parts of about four hours; the extra distance added by the stop is a mere 11 miles (or a little more because of the approach and departure miles); and if you book a stopover in Istanbul of at least 24 hours on the outward journey, the Air Passenger Duty liability falls from £78 to just £13.

If you wanted a really exotic journey to and from Abu Dhabi, then you could combine Pegasus with AirBaltic, which also has very good fares connecting in the Latvian capital, Riga – giving you three great cities for less than the price of one, since indirect flights are almost always cheaper than nonstops.

Every day our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder