Company profile

SunExpress has been your Turkey specialist since more than 20 years

Foundation

SunExpress was founded in October 1989 as the subsidiary company of Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa. Today, SunExpress carries more than seven million passengers and is one of the leading airlines in the traffic between Germany and Turkey. During the summer season (2012) SunExpress provides nonstop connections with over 1000 weekly flights between Europe and Turkey, Germany and Egypt and within Turkey. The home base of SunExpress is in Antalya on the Turkish Riviera. Further hubs are Izmir on the Aegean coast, Istanbul SAW Sabiha Gökcen, Turkey’s most modern airport, which is located in the eastern part of the metropolis on the Bosporus and Kelsterbach near Frankfurt Airport in Germany. The airline essentially concentrates on three areas of business: tourism, ethnic travel and inner-Turkish direct connecting flights between the three SunExpress hubs and the most important cities of Anatolia.

History

SunExpress was founded in Antalya in October 1989 as the joint venture of one of the world’s leading airlines, Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa. Operating its first flight in 1990, the company blends the know-how of German and Turkish aviation leaders thanks to its solid shareholder structure.

Operating touristic charter flights between Europe – specifically Germany – and Antalya for a long time, SunExpress became the first private airline company to offer international scheduled flights from Turkey with its first Antalya-Frankfurt flight in 2001.

Increasing its scheduled flights rapidly day-by-day, SunExpress opened its 2nd base in İzmir 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. SunExpress marked another major milestone in its history and opened its 3rd base in İstanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport in 2008.

The company announced a comprehensive re-branding and product enhancement project by the end of its 20th anniversary, which was celebrated at an event in Antalya on May 1st, 2010. At this event SunExpress welcomed its next 20 years with the delivery of the first of six newly purchased Boeing 737-800s and launched its new corporate identity including its new logo, aircraft livery, new corporate colours, uniforms and entire visual identity elements. SunExpress also revealed many brand new features to create extra quality and value for its customers. The launch of SunPoints – SunExpress’ frequent flier programme – and direct flights between Anatolia and Germany for the first time in Turkey were also the other highlights of 2010 for SunExpress.

SunExpress was given a further boost in 2011 with the foundation of SunExpress Deutschland GmbH. 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 – attractive destinations on the Red Sea and on the Nile in Egypt since November last year.

At its 2012 summer schedule SunExpress operates more than 1.000 flights per week between Europe and Turkey, Germany and Egypt as well as from Antalya, İzmir and Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen to the Anatolian cities.

Employees

With 785 employees the company is the largest employer in Antalya. SunExpress counts 322 employees in Izmir, 353 in Istanbul and 350 in Frankfurt, Germany. The total SunExpress workforce number is 1.810.

Flight schedule

SunExpress launched regular daily connections between Frankfurt and Antalya in 2001, thus becoming the first private Turkish airline to offer international scheduled flights. The timetable of scheduled services was expanded in 2005 with numerous flights to and from Izmir and in 2008 with flights to and from Istanbul.

In summer 2012 SunExpress provides nonstop connections with over 280 weekly flights between 20 German cities – Berlin, Bremen, Cologne, Dortmund, Dresden, Dusseldorf, Erfurt, Frankfurt, Friedrichshafen, Hamburg, Hanover, Karlsruhe, Leipzig, Munich, Muenster, Nuremberg, Paderborn, Rostock, Saarbrucken and Stuttgart – and twelve Turkish destinations – Adana, Ankara, Antalya, Bodrum, Dalaman, Elazig, Gaziantep, Istanbul SAW, Izmir, Kayseri, Samsun and Trabzon. Further international connections are offered between four Austrian cities – Graz, Linz, Salzburg and Vienna – and two cities in Switzerland – Basel and Zurich – to Antalya as well as on the routes from Vienna to Istanbul SAW and from Vienna, Basel, Zurich, Amsterdam, Stockholm and Oslo to Izmir.

As of November 2011 SunExpress is offering flights to Egypt as well. SunExpress´ departure airports to Hurghada, Luxor, Marsa Alam and Sharm el Sheikh are the following: Duesseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich, and Stuttgart.

Domestic services

Since March 2006 SunExpress has also linked Izmir, Turkey’s third-largest city, with the most important cities in Asia Minor by offering domestic flights. This is a novelty in intra-Turkish services which is centered on the hubs in Istanbul and Ankara.These direct flights which SunExpress operates from Izmir, Istanbul Sabiha Gökcen Airport and Antalya achieved high seat-load factors within short periods. This demonstrates that many Turkish cities hold a significant passenger potential.
In winter 2011 the company flies from Izmir to Antalya, Adana, Diyarbakir, Erzurum, Erzincan, Gaziantep, Kars, Kayseri, Malatya, Samsun, Sivas, Trabzon and Van. Additionally, the airline links Antalya with Adana, , Diyarbakir, Erzurum, Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen, Izmir, Samsun, Trabzon and Van. From Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen, SunExpress flies to Adana, Antalya, Diyarbakir, Erzurum, Kars, Samsun, Sivas, Trabzon and Van.

Reservations

Since March 2006 SunExpress has linked Izmir, Turkey’s third-largest city, with the most important cities in Anatolia by offering domestic flights. This was a novelty in intra-Turkish services which is centred on the hubs in Istanbul and Ankara.
These direct flights which SunExpress operates today from Izmir, Istanbul Sabiha Gökcen Airport and Antalya achieved high seat-load factors within short periods. This demonstrates that many Turkish cities hold a significant passenger potential.

In summer 2012 SunExpress provides domestic connections with over 300 weekly flights between 15 Turkish cities. The company flies nonstop from Antalya to Adana, Diyarbakır, Gaziantep, İstanbul SAW, İzmir, Samsun, Trabzon and Van. Additionally, the airline links Istanbul SAW with Adana, Antalya, Diyarbakır, Erzincan, Erzurum, Izmir, Kars, Mardin, Samsun, Trabzon and Van. From Izmir, SunExpress flies to Adana, Antalya, Diyarbakır, Erzincan, Erzurum, Gaziantep, İstanbul, Kars, Kayseri, Malatya, Samsun, Trabzon and Van.

Market shares

SunExpress completed a positive year 2011, set important strategic directions for the future growth of the company and strengthened its market position at the travel between Turkey and Europe. SunExpress benefited both from the growing traffic at tourism market and the trips of Turkish people living in Europe and visiting their home countries.

In 2011, revenue increased by an encouraging 30,3 percent to a total of 666 million Euros. The number of passengers transported rose from 6,7 million in 2010 to 7,7 million in 2011, which represents an increase of 15,8 percent. SunExpress’ seat load factor stayed strong with 80,1 percent (+ 2,6 percentage points) last year.

Certificates

SunExpress is certified according to ISO 9001 (quality management), ISO 14001 (environmental management) and OHSAS 18001 (health and safety assessment). In addition, SunExpress holds an IOSA registration with IATA (high safety standards), and its internal processes have been audited by an international system to assess airlines’ organizational processes and management systems. These process-oriented management systems are applied throughout the company and controlled by professional quality management.