Company profile
SunExpress has been your Turkey specialist since 20 years
Foundation
SunExpress was founded in October 1989 as a subsidiary company of Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines. Today SunExpress is the market leader in charter flights between Germany and Turkey as well as one of the largest scheduled carriers between Europe and southern Turkey.
Employees
With 763 employees the company is the largest employer in Antalya. SunExpress counts 305 employees in Izmir, 343 in Istanbul, 51 in Frankfurt and 231 in its subsidiary SuExpress Germany. The total SunExpress workforce numbers 1.693.
History
SunExpress was founded in Antalya in October 1989 as the joint venture of 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 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. The company currently provides the largest domestic and international flight network in İzmir. 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 01, 2010. At this event SunExpress welcomed its next 20 years with the delivery of the first of 6 newly purchased B737-800 with a brand new livery 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.
A special milestone for SunExpress in 2011 was the establishment of the German subsidiary "SunExpress Germany" which started its operations on the 8th of June 2011 initially with 3 Boeing B737-800’s. SunExpress Germany is now flying the Frankfurt- Antalya route and between German and emerging Anatolian cities. Since November 2011, SunExpress’ German subsidiary also flyes from Germany to Egypt’s Red Sea region.
At its 2011/12 winter schedule SunExpress operates more than 994 flights per week from Antalya, İzmir, Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen as well as the Anatolia-Germany direct flights, Germany-Red Sea operations and other scheduled and charter business.
The parent companies
Connections with Lufthansa
SunExpress cooperates with Lufthansa to offer scheduled flights from Antalya and Izmir to the most important destinations across Europe. Thus, passengers can fly to London, Paris, Brussels, Madrid, Milan, Amsterdam, Zurich, Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm, Warsaw, Moscow, Prague and Helsinki by transferring to Lufthansa connecting flights in Frankfurt and Munich. Additionally, Munich, Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg, Bremen, Dusseldorf, Stuttgart, Leipzig, Nuremberg, Dresden, Hanover and Muenster are among the destinations in Germany that can be reached comfortably with Lufthansa and SunExpress.
Flight schedule
International scheduled flights
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 winter 2011/12 SunExpress offers international connections on the routes from Antalya to Amsterdam, Basel, Berlin, Bremen, Cologne, Dortmund, Dresden, Dusseldorf, Erfurt, Frankfurt, Friedrichshafen, Graz, Hamburg, Hanover, Karlsruhe, Leipzig, Linz, Muenster, Munich, Nuremberg, Paderborn, Rostock-Laage, Saarbrücken, Salzburg, Stuttgart, Vienna, Weeze and Zurich. SunExpress also flies from Izmir to Amsterdam, Berlin, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hanover, Munich, Nuremberg, Stuttgart, Vienna and Zurich. Additionally, SunExpress operates flights from Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen to Amsterdam, Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt, Hanover and Munich.
In November 2010 SunExpress added ten further destinations to the flight portfolio. Separated from the Frankfurt flight connections, SunExpress offers attractive non-stop flights to Anatolia from five other German cities. Approached from Stuttgart will be Adana, Gaziantep, Samsun, Kayseri and Ankara. Other offers will be the flights from Cologne and Hamburg to Ankara and Adana.
As of November 2011 SunExpress is offering flights to Egypt as well. SunExpress´ departure airports to Hurghada, Luxor, Sharm el Sheikh and Marsa Alam are the following: Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart and Berlin. Domestic flights in Egypt are possible from Luxor to Hurghada.
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. Furthermore,
Reservations
SunExpress uses electronic tickets and offers online tickets via its website www.sunexpress.com. Furthermore, SunExpress tickets can be booked in Turkey through the Call Center by dialing 444 0 797, at Turkish Airlines and in travel agencies. In Germany, SunExpress can also be booked in travel agencies, from tour operating partners and via the Internet portal. By telephone the SunExpress Service Center can be reached from Germany on 01805 – 95 95 90 (0.14 EUR per minute from a German landline; mobile phone charges in Germany max. 0,42 EUR per minute), from Austria on 0820 – 89 87 97 (0.20 EUR per minute) and from Switzerland on 0900 – 444 797 (0.36 CHF per minute). In the Netherlands, ticket sales are handled by travel agencies.
As a rule, SunExpress advertises ticket prices that include all taxes and fees. Thus, the final price is transparent and customer-friendly.
Market shares
SunExpress, subsidiary of Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines, completed the 2010 financial year with a strong double-digit increase in revenue and passenger numbers and set important strategic directions for the future growth of the company. In 2010, revenue increased by an encouraging 18.9 percent to a total of 510.7 millions Euros, after it had recorded a figure of 429.6 million Euros the previous year. The number of passengers transported rose from 5.6 million in 2009 to 6.7 million in 2010, which represents an increase of 19.3 percent.
Our responsibilty
Certificates
SunExpress is certified according to ISO 9001 (quality management), ISO 14001 (environmental management) and OHSAS 18001. 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.
