In which period you fly in the morning matters.

In Cappadocia, you can fly with a balloon only in two periods a day. These periods are: 1) Early-morning also know as First Flight Period 2) Late-morning also know as Second Flight Period. Early-morning balloon flights are advertised as sunrise flights, typically more expensive than. In other words, the earlier you fly, the more you’ll pay.

The timing of flight also matters.

Always compare balloon ticket prices by month as they’re highly changeable. We’ve analysed how prices change across the year for you and here are the best months when you can find the cheapest hot air balloon deals:

Best months to fly in Cappadocia: Late November, December, January, February, Early March. 

Cheapest days to fly in Cappadocia: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

Tip: Balloonscanner.com lists the prices of balloon tickets over +10 operator across the whole year. Through Balloonscanner, you can also track your favourite ballooner’s ticket prices and learn when is the cheapest time to fly. 

Stiff competition elevated by slot allocation system. 

In Cappadocia, each balloon company holds a limited number of slots. A slot refers to an authorisation to operate a hot air balloon flight in the flight zone of Cappadocia, allocated by the Civil Aviation Authority of Turkey. Probably, you’re wondering how can this system fierce the competition between operators? The Cappadocia’s Slot System is established upon an idea to encourage balloon operators who use its slot at a maximum level. In Cappadocia, slots are allocated to hot air balloon companies on a yearly basis depending on their slot use-rates. Each balloon operator is rated depending on its yearly slot-use performance and the operator with the lowest slot-use rate loses one of its slots and gives it to the top-performing operator. To put it in other words, if you’re a balloonist in Cappadocia, the more you fly, the more slots you will get. Considering that a slot has a value of approximately 1 million euros in Cappadocia, operators are willing to go to any lengths to not lose its slots. This includes making huge discounts on ticket prices. 

Propane prices

Hot air balloons use propane to heat up the envelope. The bigger the envelope, the more propane a hot air balloon will consume to fly. The majority of Cappadocia-based balloon operators use the industry’s biggest commercial balloons with a varying capacity of between 20-32 passengers. These balloons use a lot more propane compared to small balloons that are for individual use, consuming up to 300 litres per one-hour flight. Consequently, a small increase in propane prices translates into a significant rise in balloon ticket prices. 

A new factor: Coronavirus

Cappadocia’s tourism mostly relies on in-coming operations from Asian countries. According to previous years’ stats, balloon ticket prices are significantly correlated with the volume of incoming travel operations from Asian countries, particularly China. Due to travel restrictions that are in place between Asian countries and Turkey, balloon tour fares are not expected to recover soon.