Turkish-German airline SunExpress eyes new underserved routes to the UK
Turkish-German airline SunExpress is looking to expand its route network into the British Isles, in a bid to reap the rewards of the looming post-pandemic travel boom.
The budget carrier has issued a what is called a ‘request for proposals’ via Route Exchange, where it can seek different routes.
SunExpress only recently announced an additional 23 new routes between Turkey and destinations in Europe and the Middle East.
But the full-service airline is looking to rebuild traffic post-pandemic, after having most flights grounded for more than a year, while also bolstering capacity ahead of next summer.
It is eyeing both unserved and underserved airports in the UK and Ireland, dotted across the British Isles.
Head of network planning and scheduling at SunExpress, Wilken Bellmann, said that the airline has detected the UK as its next target for commercial expansion.
“We have identified the United Kingdom and Ireland as our next strategic markets that are sizeable enough to support our growing fleet while also fitting our sales and pricing strategy,” he said.
“According to our data, it is the third-largest market to the destinations we are serving in Turkey and had shown the most consistent and sustainable growth in passenger numbers, before the Covid-19 pandemic.”
It comes as Qatar Airways launches two new flights to Africa, Croatia Airlines sets up 12 new routes for the winter and Ryanair’s 25 new routes which will be operational from 1 December – just in time for summer 2022.