SunExpress, a joint venture of Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa, has carried over 8 million passengers since the beginning of the year.
The carrier has achieved an average load factor of 86 percent since the beginning of the year. This represents a twofold increase in terms of passenger numbers compared to the same period last year, exceeding the pre-pandemic period of 2019.
SunExpress has scheduled 1,000 additional flights for September and October to meet the increasing demand for holiday travel after the pandemic, at a time when flight cancellations have been observed in the sector, the company said in a statement.
According to current forecasts, the airline will exceed its annual target of 10 million passengers, the statement added.
“We are proud to have made it through this summer’s peak period without any cancellations of our flights due to lack of ground handling staff across Europe,” commented Max Kownatzki, SunExpress CEO.
“We anticipate the demand for travel to continue without slowing down during the winter season. We have planned additional flights to meet the increasing demand from Europe to Turkiye. And we will continue to contribute to Turkiye’s target of 47 million tourists this year.”
SunExpress was recently named “World’s Best Leisure Airline” in 2022 by Skytrax. The airline had already been named “Turkiye’s Best Leisure Airline” three consecutive times and featured in the top 10 global leisure airlines many times.
Established in Antalya in 1989, the carrier SunExpress flies to more than 175 destinations in 30 countries with a fleet of 67 aircraft. It has bases in Frankfurt, İzmir, Ankara and Istanbul.