Turkey-based airline SunExpress has announced a significant expansion of services from the UK to the Turkish ‘Riveria’ for next summer.
The carrier, a joint venture between Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines, will launch flights from Glasgow and Liverpool John Lennon airports for the first time, operating three times a week to Antalya from both airports and twice a week from Glasgow to Dalaman.
SunExpress already flies from nine UK airports to Antalya and Dalaman – operating from Gatwick, Stansted, Manchester, Birmingham, Luton, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Leeds-Bradford and Bristol.
The new routes and added frequencies will increase the carrier’s capacity from the UK by about 20% to 1.9 million seats after SunExpress doubled its capacity this year versus 2023 to 1.6 million seats.
The UK will account for one quarter of the carrier’s total capacity next year.
SunExpress will almost double its flights from Stansted to 28 a week, with a new five-times-a-week service to Dalaman and increased frequencies to Antalya, plus a weekly flight to Kayseri in Anatolia for the visiting friends and relations market.
It will also add a twice weekly service to Dalaman from Newcastle and operate up to three times a day to Antalya from Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham.
Tobias Bracht, SunExpress head of sales, said: “The UK is a key market for us. Germany and the German-speaking markets Austria and Switzerland are our stronghold, but the UK is our second most important market.”
The carrier operates an all-Boeing fleet of 70 aircraft, including 15 of the latest Boeing 737 Max aircraft, all with 189 economy seats.
It plans to launch a new range of fares for summer 2025, ranging from a basic seat with minimal cabin baggage, through a standard fare with a checked bag, to more flexible booking options.
The airline sells through “all available channels”, says Bracht, explaining it “has close cooperation with Tui UK, Love Holidays and On the Beach [which] take allocations and a share of our capacity”.
Bracht said: “We want to build up the market and our goal is to grow the agency market. We offer new distribution capability (NDC) connections, we work with API providers, with agencies and smaller operators which deal direct with us through their own booking platform, and with the GDSs.
He added: “The German-speaking market is not so GDS-driven anymore, but we are looking at whether to invest more in the GDSs [in the UK].
Agents which register with SunExpress to receive a direct connection receive incentives based on the revenue they generate.
Bracht said: “We’re also looking at how we maybe adjust our product to the UK market, for example with our catering.”
SunExpress operates daily winter flights to Antalya from Gatwick, Birmingham and Manchester.