Europe's smaller outlying island communities have often been ill served by direct flights compared with the mainland. But this coming summer there are conspicuously better flight connections to the Faroes, the Azores and North Cyprus. The thawing of relations between the EU nations and the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus has led to a happy increase in the number of direct flights to this isolated part of Europe. True, flights still touch down en route in Turkey, most commonly at Istanbul, Antalya, Izmir or Dalaman, but it is now possible to fly direct to Ercan airport in North Cyprus without the need to change plane en route. The UK benefits from more direct services into Ercan than any other country apart from Turkey itself.