SunExpress targets 4 million passengers in July-August

ISTANBUL

SunExpress, the joint venture of Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa, aims to carry approximately 4 million passengers during the July-August period, according to a company statement.

The carrier said that while geopolitical developments earlier this year temporarily affected bookings, demand for travel to Türkiye has not experienced any lasting weakness.

Passenger numbers gained momentum as bookings made closer to travel dates increased ahead of the summer season, it noted. Demand from Germany, one of the largest source markets for visitors to Türkiye, played an important role in the recovery, it said.

SunExpress transported 6.3 million passengers during the first half of the year.

Chief Executive Officer Marcus Schnabel said that the resilience of Türkiye’s tourism sector had once again become evident.

He reiterated SunExpress’ goal of becoming the leading holiday airline serving Türkiye.
During the summer season, SunExpress plans to operate more than 1,000 weekly flights to Antalya and Izmir, two of Türkiye’s most popular tourism destinations.

Deputy General Manager Tuncay Eminoğlu said SunExpress generated $2.5 billion in foreign currency revenues in 2025, an 11 percent increase compared with the previous year and ranked among the country’s leading service exporters.

The airline will operate roughly 800 weekly flights to Antalya and more than 250 weekly flights to Izmir during the summer season. It has also launched 18 new routes, including Antalya–Bratislava, Izmir–Podgorica, Bodrum–Tirana and Pristina, Ankara–Rotterdam, Edremit–Munich and Hannover, Hatay–Düsseldorf and Çukurova–Cologne.

SunExpress added four new Boeing 737-8 aircraft to its fleet in 2026 and plans to continue fleet modernization with the delivery of 11 additional aircraft in 2027.