SunExpress is a Turkish-

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...

based in

Antalya Antalya is the fifth-most populous city in Turkey and the capital of Antalya Province. Recognized as the "capital of tourism" in Turkey and a pivotal part of the Turkish Riviera, Antalya sits on Anatolia's southwest coast, flanked by the Tau ...

. SunExpress was founded in October 1989 as a joint venture between Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa. It operates scheduled and chartered passenger flights to 90 destinations in 30 countries in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

as well as

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

, the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

, and

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

. The airline concentrates on

international tourism International tourism is tourism that crosses national borders. Globalization has made tourism a popular global leisure activity. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual ...

, domestic Turkish flights to cities in

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

, and wet leasing. The total number of SunExpress employees is 5,000.

History

2010-06-30 B737 SunExpress TC-SUU EDDF 03

Foundation and early years

SunExpress was founded in Antalya in October 1989 as a joint venture of

Turkish Airlines Turkish Airlines (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Türk Hava Yolları''), or legally Türk Hava Yolları Anonim Ortaklığı, is the flag carrier of Turkey. , it operates scheduled services to 352 destinations (including cargo) in Europe, Asia, Oce ...

and

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), trading as the Lufthansa Group, is a German aviation group. Its major and founding subsidiary airline Lufthansa German Airlines, branded as Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. It ranks List of largest airlin ...

. Its first flight was in 1990. SunExpress became the first private airline company to offer international scheduled flights from Turkey with its first Antalya-Frankfurt flight in 2001. SunExpress opened its second base in

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

and started to operate domestic flights in 2006. With this launch, SunExpress became the first airline company to connect İzmir with Anatolian cities with direct flights in Turkey.

Development since 2010

In May 2010, SunExpress took delivery of the first of six newly purchased

Boeing 737-800 The Boeing 737 Next Generation, commonly abbreviated as 737NG, or 737 Next Gen, is a twinjet, twin-engine narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Launched in 1993 as the third-generation derivative of the Boeing 737, it ha ...

s and launched its new corporate identity including its new logo, aircraft livery, new corporate colours, uniforms and visual identity elements. SunExpress Deutschland was founded in 2011. The company started business operations in June 2011. Besides the Turkish destinations on the South Coast, on the Aegean, on the Black Sea and in the East of the country, it also serves – with German registration – destinations along the

and

. SunExpress decided to invest in its building and SunExpress Plaza was built in June 2012. The new company building is environmental friendly and is located in a natural setting. The architectural theme of the building is transparency and naturalness; therefore each room has been designed so that it has access to natural light and fresh air. The sun is a source for clean energy inside the building. The solar panels on the roof generate enough electricity to supply power to all the computers. On the exterior of the building, “smart” glass panels have been used to allow sun rays to shine inside the building while blocking out unwanted heat to help reduce cooling costs. Orange, bergamot, and lemon trees have been planted in both the interior and exterior gardens. The building consists of one basement and four floors, which houses 250 SunExpress employees in 87 offices. There are several special category spaces incorporating meeting, briefing, training, storage, and various special operation rooms. The building also hosts a common archive room, a stationary

flight simulator A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and the environment in which it flies, for pilot training, design, or other purposes. It includes replicating the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they rea ...

room and a general purpose auditorium. On 23 June 2020, it has been announced that SunExpress' German subsidiary SunExpress Deutschland would cease operations and be liquidated. Its route network would be partially taken over by SunExpress and

Eurowings Eurowings GmbH is a Germany, German low-cost carrier headquartered in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group. Founded in 1996, it serves a network of domestic and European destinations and main ...

.aerotelegraph.com
(German) 23 June 2020 On 30 October 2023, Sun Express Airlines successfully completed its inaugural flight to Ercan Airport (Northern Cyprus) with 118 passengers. This special flight coincided with the 100th Anniversary of the Republic of Turkey, marking a significant historical moment. SunExpress will operate flights to Ercan Airport on Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays, making four round trips per week. This new route is highlighted as a crucial step both for travelers wishing to travel from İzmir to Cyprus and for Ercan Airport to serve a broader audience. In 2024, SunExpress and the Bulgarian airline Electra Airways announced a new flight program for flights to the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, covering the summer tourist season with flights from 7 German airports to Varna and Burgas. The new project will operate through joint operations, with SunExpress participating through sales and flight program planning, while Electra Airways will provide aircraft and crew.

Destinations

, SunExpress flies to the following destinations:

Codeshare agreements

Austrian Airlines Austrian Airlines AG, often shortened to Austrian or AUA, is the flag carrier of Austria and a subsidiary of Lufthansa, the flag carrier of Germany. The airline is headquartered on the grounds of Vienna International Airport in Schwechat where i ...

TUI Airways TUI Airways Limited (formerly Thomson Airways Limited) is the British arm of the TUI Airline group, which is owned and operated by the TUI Group. They offer scheduled and charter flights from the United Kingdom and Ireland to destinations in E ...

Interline agreements

* Swiss International Air Lines *

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois that operates an extensive domestic and international route network across the United States and six ...

Fleet

Current fleet

, SunExpress operates an all-

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the t ...

fleet composed of the following aircraft:

Historic fleet

SunExpress had also operated the following aircraft types in the past:

References

External links

Official website
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