SunExpress welcomes the next 20 years
May 1, 2010
SunExpress welcomes the next 20 years
with the new corporate identity and innovative products.
Completing its 20th year in the Turkish aviation and tourism industry, SunExpress welcomes the next 20 years with the first of 6 newly purchased B737-800 coming from Boeing at Seattle with a brand new livery. In the 20th anniversary celebration event held in Antalya on May 1st, where the company was established and operated its first flight, SunExpress 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.
SunExpress Managing Director Paul Schwaiger said, “Our vision is clear; we aim to become the most preferred airline of Turkish tourism and to provide the best value to our new passengers flying in Turkey. Within this context; we are proud to open the new chapter of SunExpress at Antalya where our story started and to where we carried almost 20 million tourists in our 20 years of history. We not only renew how we look, but also launch some important and surprising service enhancements for our customers at every single step of their journey with us.”
Service enhancements SunExpress offers vary on a large spectrum of areas from check-in to boarding, from on-board catering concept to crew uniforms. SunExpress also kicked of a children’s club for its junior passengers and announced that it will start to its own loyalty program within 2010.
SunExpress Deputy Managing Director Hacı Say stated, “We want to surprise our customers again and again in a positive way everyday showing them that SunExpress offers best quality for value prices. On top of our concrete concentration on safety, quality, customer service, business profitability, team integration and environmental consciousness, we add a much more energetic logo and impressive aircraft livery and improve the whole passenger experience with service enhancements. The fundamental reason behind all this change is; we are prepared for sustainable growth and we want our customers to experience the new SunExpress and make their choice – hopefully in favour of us.”
Air traffic slowly resumes normal operations
German airspace has completely reopened. According to a spokeswoman from German air traffic control all international airports in Germay were reopened as planned during this morning.
Most airports were reopened during the early hours of the morning. The last airports to reopen at 11:00 am were Dresden, Leipzig, Erfurt and Münster.
"The cloud has buckled" said German air traffic control company spokesman Axel Raab.
SunExpress resumed normal operations immediately after having safely operated 26 officially permitted visual flights yesterday.
All passengers with valid reservations are requested to proceed with their flights as usual.
There still may be delayed flights as operations will only return to normal within the next few days.
SunExpress will perform most of its flights to Germany as of April 20
SunExpress performs a total of 26 flights today, Tuesday 20th April, between Turkey and Germany/Switzerland and will perform most of its flights to European destinations tomorrow, on Wednesday April 21, after having obtained permission from Civil Aviation Authority’s of the concerned countries. In order to fly its passengers to their home countries as quick as possible, SunExpress will operate most of its Germany flights under rules granted within the national and international civil aviation regulations. Passengers are requested to check SunExpress web site or Call Center get an update on the respective flight status.
SunExpress closely watches the further development about the volcanic ash crisis and will act accordingly if and when conditions change. All SunExpress passengers who were booked on cancelled flights are able to rebook their tickets to the next available SunExpress flight or upon request will get a refund for their ticket if they want to cancel the booking. Passengers from tour operators shall directly contact the tour operator where they bought their SunExpress ticket.
SunExpress Call Center – Turkey: 444 0797
SunExpress Call Center – Germany: 0180 5 95 95 90*
*(0,14EUR per minute, max. 0,42EUR per minute from mobile network)
Updated information on todays flight irregularities
Due to the eruption of the icelandic volcano there are still airspaces and some airports closed in Europe. The flight embargo for the German airspace officially applies until 20.00h local time. Like all other airlines SunExpress is effected by this presetting of authorities. SunExpress tries to gain special permissions to safely transport our passengers as soon as possible. Furthermore we will try to fly to alternate airports that are not effected by closures.
Nevertheless even today there are more flight cancellations, especially for the early flights, that are listed below. Passengers that are effected by these flight cancellations are requested not to proceed to the airport but to call our Call Center in order to get an update on the acutal status of their flights.
The following SunExpress flights have been cancelled:
20 April 2010
20APR10 XQ923 BERLIN-SCHÖNEFELD - IZMIR
20APR10 XQ975 HANNOVER - IZMIR
20APR10 XQ972 İZMİR – STUTTGART
20APR10 XQ973 STUTTGART – İZMİR
20APR10 XQ110 ANTALYA - BASEL
20APR10 XQ111 BASEL - ANTALYA
20APR10 XQ262 ANTALYA - KARLSRUHE
20APR10 XQ263 KARLSRUHE - ANTALYA
20APR10 XQ150 ANTALYA - STUTTGART
20APR10 XQ151 STUTTGART – ANTALYA
20APR10 XQ170 ANTALYA - HAMBURG
20APR10 XQ171 HAMBURG – ANTALYA
20APR10 XQ102 ANTALYA – AMSTERDAM
20APR10 XQ103 AMSTERDAM – ANTALYA
20APR10 XQ 214 ANTALYA – COLOGNE
20APR10 XQ215 COLOGNE – ANTALYA
20APR10 XQ160 ANTALYA - BERLIN-TEGEL
20APR10 XQ161 BERLIN-TEGEL – ANTALYA
20APR10 XQ232 ANTALYA - HANNOVER
20APR10 XQ233 HANNOVER – ANTALYA
20APR10 XQ922 IZMIR - BERLIN-SCHÖNEFELD
20APR10 XQ982 IZMIR - COLOGNE
20APR10 XQ874 ISTANBUL SABIHA GÖKCEN - HANNOVER
21 APRIL 2010
21APR10 XQ923 BERLIN-SCHÖNEFELD - IZMIR
21APR10 XQ983 COLOGNE - IZMIR
21APR10 XQ875 HANNOVER - ISTANBUL SABIHA GÖKCEN
We kindly ask all our passengers that are affected by flight cancellations not to proceed to the airport but to call the Call Center in order to get an update on the respective flight status.
As a massive amount of flights have been cancelled or are supposed to be cancelled in Europe, passengers must expect severe delays throughout the whole day or even longer.
SunExpress closely watches the further development and will act accordingly. All passengers booked on flights that are cancelled are rebooked free of charge on another SunExpress flight or - upon request - will get a refund for their ticket if they want to cancel the booking. Passengers from tour operators shall directly contact the tour operator where they bought their SunExpress ticket. Free rebooking is also available for passengers whose departures are between April 16-19 and their flights have not been cancelled.
Passengers can contact our Call Centers for further information.
SunExpress Call Center – Turkey: 444 0797
SunExpress Call Center – Germany: 0180 5 95 95 90
(0,14EUR per minute, max. 0,42EUR per minute from mobile network)
Condor passengers on SunExpress operated flights (XQ flight number) shall contact Condor Call Center
Last Update: 20th april 12:34
SunExpress expanded its fleet to 21 aircraft
March 4th, 2010 - SunExpress, the joint venture of Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa, got delivery of a Boeing 737-800 and expanded its fleet to 21 aircraft.
After the addition of this aircraft with tail registration name TC-SNL, the average age of SunExpress’ fleet became 7.69 and seating capacity increased to 4.044. SunExpress will operate this new aircraft at its Antalya based flights. Increasing the number of passengers by 32.3% to 5.6 million in 2009, SunExpress targets to carry 7 million passengers and expand its fleet to 25 aircraft by the end of 2010.
SunExpress Managing Director Paul Schwaiger said, “2009 has been another good year of successful growth for SunExpress. Despite the growth of the fleet to 20 aircraft, the flown seat load factor achieved previous year’s level. 2010 promises to become a strong year for Turkish tourism and for us. With this new delivery we are getting prepared to meet the increasing demand.” SunExpress Deputy Managing Director Hacı Say added, “We’re happy of adding our 21st aircraft to our fleet which will fly for Antalya operations where in the peak season we will operate 198 charter, 118 scheduled international and 106 domestic flights a week.”
Including the new one, SunExpress’ fleet consists of 18 next-generation Boeing 737-800s and 3 B57-200s all with winglets. At its summer schedule, SunExpress will fly to Amsterdam, Basel, Bergen, Berlin-Schonefeld, Berlin-Tegel, Bremen, Brussels, Bydgoszcz, Cologne/Bonn, Dalarna, Dortmund, Dresden, Dusseldorf, Eindhoven, Erfurt, Evenes, Frankfurt, Friedrichshafen, Gdansk, Geneva, Goleniów, Graz, Hamburg, Hanover, Haugesund, Helsinki, Insbruck, Kalmar, Karlsruhe, Katowice, Kiruna, Krakow, Leipzig, Linz, Lisbon, Ljubljana, Lodz, Luleå, Luxemburg, Malmö, Memmingen, Milano, Molde, Munich, Münster Osnabrück, Nuremberg, Oslo, Paderborn, Poznan, Pristina, Ranne, Rostock, Rzeszów, Saarbrücken, Salzburg, Skopje, Stavanger, Stockholm, Stuttgart, Sundsvall, Tromsø, Trondheim, Umea, Vienna, Visby, Warsaw, Wroclaw, Yerevan and Zurich at international flights. At domestic flights, SunExpress will fly from Antalya to Istanbul SAW, İzmir, Adana, Diyarbakır, Van, Samsun and Gaziantep.
SunExpress grew 32.3% in 2009 and has a very positive outlook for 2010
February 27th, 2010 - SunExpress, the joint-venture of Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa, improved the number of its passengers by 32.3% in 2009, carrying a total of 5.593.199 people in a year.
SunExpress closed the year with 429.6 million Euro revenue, which is 4.8% more than 2008. At the press conference held in Turkish Airlines Headquarters with the participation of SunExpress’ new chairman Dr. Temel Kotil, Vice Chairman Stefan Lauer, Managing Director Paul Schwaiger and Deputy Managing Director Hacı Say, SunExpress also announced that it will start flying from Istanbul Sabiha Gökcen to Vienna, Saarbrucken and Munster/Osnabruck and from İzmir to Vienna, Munster/Osnabruck and Mardin in the summer schedule that starts on March 28, 2010. SunExpress Managing Director Paul Schwaiger said, “With an increased fleet of 25 aircraft, we have a very positive outlook for 2010 and expect to fly 7 million passengers during the year.”
At his presentation Schwaiger told, “We have seen very positive growth numbers in 2009. First time in our history we exceeded the 5 million level and carried nearly 5.6 million passengers. This is a significant record in our company’s history. As of 2010 summer schedule we are launching brand-new routes such as Vienna, Saarbrucken and Munster/Osnabruck. At domestic flights we continue to offer a very strong schedule for the benefit of our passengers.”
Deputy Managing Director Hacı Say told that new and 3rd home base Istanbul-SAW has created a significant volume in SunExpress’ operational results. Say said “In the start-up phase of our SAW operations which is between April 2008 and March 2010, we operated 20.039 flights and carried more than 2.7 million passengers. Only 22 months after starting our SAW operations, we are holding the 2nd position with 29% market share.”
At the end of the press conference SunExpress signed long term partnership agreements with Turkish Technic for 10 years of component services, with Lufthansa Technik and Turkish Engine Center for 10 years engine services and with LSG SkyChefs for 5 years in-flight services. SunExpress management thanked their longstanding business partners in these very important fields of cooperation and appreciated the continued support of Dr. İsmail Demir, CEO of Turkish Technic, Mr. August – Wilhelm Henningsen, CEO of Lufthansa Technik, Mr. Daniel Tennant, CEO of Turkish Engine Center (TEC) and Mr. Walter Gehl, CEO of LSG Sky Chefs.
SunExpress also promoted its special Istanbul aircraft which will act as a cultural ambassador of Istanbul for 5 years, promoting its cultural and touristic values to hundreds of millions of people in Europe and Turkey.
Fact sheet
SunExpress 2009 operational results – total | |||
| 2008 | 2009 | Diff. in % |
Number of aircraft | 17 | 20 | 17,6% |
Number of flights | 30.266 | 39.563 | 30,7% |
Number of block hours | 77.996 | 93.500 | 19,9% |
Number of passengers | 4.228.181 | 5.593.199 | 32,3% |
Revenue in Euro (mio) | 409.7 | 429.6 | 4,8% |
SLF (Diff. in % p.) | 77,6% | 77,5% | -0,1%p, |
SunExpress 2009 operational results – Antalya only | |||
| 2008 | 2009 | Diff. in % |
Number of aircraft | 10 | 9 | -10,0% |
Number of flights | 15.151 | 16.680 | 10,1% |
Number of block hours | 46.883 | 46.556 | -0,7% |
Number of passengers | 2.294.376 | 2.402.444 | 4,7% |
SLF (Diff. in % p.) | 81,4% | 80,8% | -0,6%p, |
SunExpress 2009 operational results – İzmir only | |||
| 2008 | 2009 | Diff. in % |
Number of aircraft | 4 | 5 | 25,0% |
Number of flights | 10.219 | 11.358 | 11,1% |
Number of block hours | 22.474 | 25.345 | 12,8% |
Number of passengers | 1.283.331 | 1.555.017 | 21,2% |
SLF (Diff. in % p.) | 71,1% | 73,3% | 2,2%p, |
SunExpress 2009 operational results – SAW only | |||
| 2008 | 2009 | Diff. in % |
Number of aircraft | 3 | 6 | 100,0% |
Number of flights | 4.896 | 11.525 | 135,4% |
Number of block hours | 8.639 | 21.599 | 150,0% |
Number of passengers | 650.474 | 1.635.738 | 151,5% |
SLF (Diff. in % p.) | 70,4% | 74,5% | 4,1%p, |
Summer Schedule 2010
New flights
İstanbul SAW - Vienna twice a week
İstanbul SAW - Saarbruecken once a week
İstanbul SAW - Muenster / Osnabrueck once a week
İzmir - Vienna 3 times a week
İzmir - Saarbruecken once a week
İzmir - Mardin 3 times a week
SunExpress launches a very special livery on a Boeing 737, dedicated to Istanbul for celebrating its 20th anniversary
February 23rd, 2010 - SunExpress, the joint venture of Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa operating scheduled and charter flights between Europe and Turkey, painted one of its Boeing 737-800s with an artistic design for celebrating its 20th anniversary. The “Paint Book” livery is dedicated to Istanbul and it displays a unique approach, as the design is the joint product of Turkish and German artists putting emphasis on the importance of collaboration of different cultures.
SunExpress Managing Director Paul Schwaiger said; “We are excited to celebrate our 20th anniversary and contribute to the promotion of Istanbul, one of the world’s most fascinating tourism destinations in the world, in our own way. The Boeing 737-800s have been the reliable workhorses of our fleet; this special aircraft will now become a flying piece of art. The aircraft is painted with the two strong and symbolic colors of Turkey -turquoise and red – and we hope it will be eye-catching anywhere in the world promoting Istanbul to hundreds of millions of people.”
“This is a remarkable tribute to 20 successful years of SunExpress and its newest base Istanbul. 737s enjoyed being the most popular airliner of the world for decades, thanks to SunExpress’ approach now one of its members will be a proud cultural ambassador. We extend our congratulations to the entire SunExpress team for 20 years of growth with continuous dedication to quality, operational integrity, and top passenger care.” said Aldo Basile vice president, Sales Europe and Russia and for Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
The “Paint Book” design carries the individual drawings of the Turkish and German artists on a 39 meters long Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The aircraft was painted by Lufthansa Technic and it aims to serve as a cultural ambassador of Istanbul, 2010 Cultural Capital of Europe. (daraltıyoruz istemeden)
The relationship between SunExpress and Boeing goes back to the early days of the airline, which was founded in 1989. SunExpress made its first flight on April 2, 1990 from Frankfurt to Antalya with a new Boeing 737-300 delivered from Seattle to Frankfurt and since then it operates Boeings. Today, SunExpress flies an all Boeing fleet of 20 aircraft.
About the artists: The “Paint Book” design is a joint project of Hamburg University’s Design Department (HAW) and Yıldız Technical University’s Faculty of Arts and Design (YTU). The arts students were chosen by Prof. Wolfgang Schönholz, one of the most successful advertising professionals of Germany and a professor at HAW and İnci Eviner, a renowned contemporary artist of Turkey and academician of YTU. Arts students Marcel-Felix Krüger, Louise Jessen and Sebastian Bulas joined from Germany and Sibel Horada Coşkun, Seda Hepsev and Ozan Özkulaksız joined from Turkey. Tevfik Göktepe a graphical designer from İzmir-Turkey joined the group as the facilitator; Metin Coskun from YTU took care of all photo and video documentation. From the very beginning, Lufthansa Technic was involved in the project and was represented by Dr. Matthias Panten, Aircraft Painting Director.
SunExpress continues to grow, adds 7 new destinations from Istanbul Sabiha Gökcen to its winter schedule
October 22nd, 2009 - SunExpress, the joint venture of Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa, announced its 3rd quarter operational results for 2009. Between the January – September 09 period, the company increased the number of its passengers by 29% to 4.081.000, compared to the same period of the last year. Expanding its flight network continuously, SunExpress also added mutual flights between Istanbul Sabiha Gökcen and Zurich, Hamburg, Nurnberg, Dusseldorf and Dortmund at international and Hatay and Mardin (subject to DGCA approval) at domestic flights at the winter schedule starting on October 25.
Continuing its steady growth through 2009, SunExpress increased its revenue by 5, 9% to 329 million Euros and the number of its flights by 26.8% to 28.246. Improving its seat load factor to 79.4% by 1.1p% increase in the same period, SunExpress targets to carry more than 5.5 million passengers by the end of the year which will set the new record figures in company’s history.
Paul Schwaiger, Managing Director of SunExpress said, “SunExpress continued to its growth in the first 9 months of 2009, while the global aviation industry has been acting deliberately as a response to the challenging circumstances. Despite a limited decrease in the volume of Turkish tourism, we maintained our successful performance on international flights. On the other hand we recorded a remarkable growth on domestic flights. With 6 new purchased Boeing 737-800s to be delivered, we’ll reach a fleet size of 25 airplanes by 2010 and get positioned to market leadership at each base we operate from.”
Deputy Managing Director Hacı Say stated, “SunExpress recorded the most important growth figures at SAW-based flights, which it started to operate in April 2008. Since the start of our operation here, we achieved to carry more than 1.7 million passengers. In the new winter schedule, we will add 7 new destinations to our domestic and international flight network at SAW in order to foster the winter tourism and business relations. With the addition of Mardin and Hatay flights, we will be covering most of the eastern and southern Anatolia.”
New destinations of SunExpress...
SunExpress adds 7 new destinations to its SAW-based flight network; and also increases the frequency of the current flights operated from İzmir, İstanbul SAW and Antalya. SunExpress’ flights from Istanbul SAW to Hatay and Mardin will be operated on Thursdays and Sundays; to Zurich on Mondays and Fridays; to Hamburg on Tuesdays and Saturdays; to Nurnberg on Wednesdays and Saturdays; to Düsseldorf on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays; and to Dortmund on Thursdays.
SunExpress Performance
| Sep 09 | Jan – Sep 2009 |
Flights | 3.634 /(+%23.1) | 28.246 (+%26.8) |
Block Hours | 8.608 (+%13) | 67.800 (+%17) |
Passengers | 544.075 (+%36) | 4.081.000 (+%29.1) |
Seat Load Factor | 82.3% (+3p%) | %79.4 (+%1.1) |
Revenue | 44.6 (+%2,7%) | 329 million Euro (+%6) |
SunExpress adds 6 new destinations for Istanbul SAWat the 2009/10 winter schedule
September 4th, 2009 - SunExpress will start flying to 6 new destinations from its Istanbul Sabiha Gökcen (SAW) base in the winter season and add new frequencies to some of its existing routes in İzmir, Istanbul SAW and Antalya. In the winter schedule that is valid between October 25, 2009 and March 27, 2010 SunExpress will operate mutual flights from Istanbul SAW to Zurich, Hamburg, Nurnberg, Dusseldorf and Dortmund at international and to Erzincan at domestic flights.
Growing its fleet to 20 aircraft, SunExpress will be able to establish a schedule at Istanbul SAW that allows passengers to combine domestic flights from Adana, Trabzon, Samsun, Kayseri, Gaziantep, Bodrum and Malatya to international flights to Amsterdam, Dusseldorf, Dortmund, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart, and Zurich.
Speaking about the winter schedule and the connection system, SunExpress Managing Director Paul Schwaiger said “With the start of this winter schedule, we will increase our international flights network for Istanbul SAW from 8 European cities to 13. This is a strong indication of confidence for the new and modern terminal of Istanbul SAW International Airport which will open for operations at the end of October.”
SunExpress Deputy Managing Director Hacı Say added; “SunExpress keeps growing and expanding its flight network at its 3 home bases Antalya, İzmir and Istanbul SAW. With the start of Erzincan flights, we will be covering most of the Middle and Eastern Anatolian region. By this winter season we will also increase our frequency in most of our routes, for example from Istanbul SAW we will fly to İzmir 26 times a week and to Adana, Trabzon and Antalya 3 times a day (21 a week). Overall at domestic flights, we will perform 246 domestic flights a week, which is 86 more than last winter schedule.”
SunExpress’ flights from Istanbul SAW to Erzincan will be operated on Wednesdays and Saturdays; to Zurich on Mondays and Fridays; to Hamburg on Tuesdays and Saturdays; to Nurnberg on Wednesdays and Saturdays; to Dusseldorf on Mondays, Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays; and to Dortmund on Thursdays.
In Izmir SunExpress will increase the number of its weekly Frankfurt flights to 10, Munich and Berlin-Schonefeld to 7 and Stuttgart to 5. In Antalya SunExpress will start to 2 weekly direct flights to Erzurum, Samsun and Trabzon. The ticket fares at SunExpress, the Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa jointventure, starts from 49 TL at domestic and 49 € at international routes, all inclusive. SunExpress tickets are available on www.sunexpress.com or the call center 444 0 797.
SunExpress Connections via Istanbul SAW at Winter 09/10 Schedule
From | To | Days | Return |
Adana | Amsterdam | Thu, Sun | Same days |
| Dusseldorf | Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun | |
| Dortmund | Thu | |
| Frankfurt | Daily | |
| Hamburg | Tue, Sat | |
| Munich | Tue, Wed, Thu, Sat, Sun | |
| Stuttgart | Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri, Sat | |
| Zurich | Mon, Fri |
|
|
|
|
|
Trabzon | Amsterdam | Thu, Sun | Same days |
| Dusseldorf | Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun | |
| Dortmund | Thu | |
| Frankfurt | Daily | |
| Hamburg | Tue, Sat | |
| Munich | Tue, Wed, Thu, Sat, Sun | |
| Stuttgart | Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri, Sat | |
| Zurich | Mon, Fri |
|
|
|
|
|
Samsun | Amsterdam | Thu, Sun | Sun |
| Dusseldorf | Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun | Mon, Wed, Fri |
| Frankfurt | Daily | Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat |
| Hamburg | Tue, Sat | Sat |
| Munich | Tue, Wed, Thu, Sat, Sun | Wed, Sat |
| Stuttgart | Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri, Sat | Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat |
| Zurich | Mon, Fri | Mon, Fri |
|
|
|
|
Kayseri | Amsterdam | Sun | Thu |
| Dusseldorf | Fri, Sun | Mon |
| Frankfurt | Tue, Fri, Sun | Mon, Thu |
| Munich | Tue, Sun | Thu |
| Stuttgart | Tue, Fri | Mon |
| Zurich | Fri | Mon |
|
|
|
|
Gaziantep | Dusseldorf | Wed | Fri, Sun |
| Frankfurt | Wed, Sat | Tue, Fri, Sat, Sun |
| Hamburg | Sat | Tue, Sat |
| Munich | Wed, Sat | Tue, Sat, Sun |
| Stuttgart | Wed, Sat | Tue, Fri, Sat |
|
|
|
|
Malatya | Dusseldorf | Mon | Wed |
| Frankfurt | Mon, Thu | Wed, Sat |
| Munich | Thu | Wed, Sat |
| Stuttgart | Mon | Wed, Sat |
|
|
|
|
Bodrum | Frankfurt | Tue, Fri, Sun | Same days |
| Munich | Tue, Sun | |
| Zurich | Fri | |
| Dusseldorf | Fri, Sun | |
| Hamburg | Tue | |
| Stuttgart | Tue, Fri | |
| Amsterdam | Sun |
SunExpress starts to the first nonstop flights between İzmir and Athens
August 4, 2009 -SunExpress, a joint venture of Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa, will start to the first nonstop flights between İzmir and Athens by August 15th 2009. The flights will be operated twice a week on Tuesdays and Saturdays connecting Turkey’s biggest industrial zone and tourism destination at the Aegean coast with the Greek capital.
Speaking at the inaugural flight operated to Athens on August 4th, SunExpress Managing Director Paul Schwaiger said, “The cultural, touristic and commercial relations between Turkey and Greece are being fed from a well established history of many years. We are extremely excited to mark a milestone and become the first airline to connect the two shores of the beautiful Aegean with our nonstop flights after nearly 2 decades. We are thankful to the Athens Airport’s CEO and his team for their warm welcome. With their great support, we aim to foster existing business and tourism potential between two cities by offering our 20 years of experience and the market expertise.”
Welcoming SunExpress and the new route, Athens International Airport’s CEO, Yiannis Paraschis, stated: “We are delighted to welcome the connection of our airport to Izmir, one of the most dynamic markets for Athens. The introduction of the route connecting Athens to Izmir, which is the 8th new destination added to our network this year, is a result of a successful developmental policy followed by our airport. We are very glad to welcome SunExpress to Athens International Airport, and we wish the airline every success in the operation of this significant route, which we believe will further strengthen the bonds between the two destinations.”
SunExpress’ flights from İzmir to Athens on Tuesdays and Saturdays will depart on 12:15 and arrive on 13:15. From Athens to İzmir, SunExpress aircraft will take off on 14:00 and land on 14:50 on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The one way ticket fares for İzmir-Athens-İzmir route will start from 49 Euro. SunExpress tickets can be purchased directly from www.sunexpress.com.
SunExpress was founded in 1989 as the joint venture of Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa. The company currently operates scheduled domestic and international flights from its 3 bases İzmir, Antalya and İstanbul Sabiha Gökçen. Operating a fleet of 20 Boeings, the company announced an order with Boeing for 6 new 737-800s on July 2009. With the delivery of these aircraft, SunExpress will have a fleet of 25 Boeing 737-800s and 4.725 seat capacity by the end of 2010.
SunExpress’ flight schedule at İzmir – Athens – İzmir route | |||
| Days | Hours | Flight /span> |
İzmir – Athens | Tuesdays and Saturdays | 12:15-13:15 | XQ 910 |
Athens – İzmir | Tuesdays and Saturdays | 14:00-14:50 | XQ 911 |
SunExpress grew by 34 percent in the first half of 2009
13 July 2009 - SunExpress announced its 6 months operational results for 2009. The Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa joint venture continued its growth and improved the number of its passengers by 34, 1% to 2.382.000 in the first 6 months of 2009. At the first half of the year, SunExpress performed 17.049 flights (+31, 3%) and flew a total of 41.137 block hours (+21, 1%). The company improved its seat load factor by 1,8p% to 76, 8%.
SunExpress Managing Director Paul Schwaiger said, “At the first half of this year we operated 19 a/c, 2 more than same period last year. We are excited to see that we achieved remarkable growth despite the moderate expansion at the fleet.” SunExpress Deputy Managing Director Hacı Say said, “Our overall growth is being fed by healthy businesses at our 3 home bases. The incoming tourist numbers for the entire Turkish market show a small decline at the first 6 months, but we were still able to grow in Antalya, İzmir and Istanbul Sabiha Gökcen with a very strong domestic and a competitive international business capitalization.”
SunExpress was founded in 1989 as a joint venture of Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa. The company currently operates scheduled domestic and international flights from its 3 bases İzmir, Antalya and Istanbul Sabiha Gökcen. Operating a fleet of 19 Boeings, the company announced an order with Boeing for 6 new 737-800s on July 2009. With the delivery of these aircraft, SunExpress will have a fleet of 25 Boeing 737-800s and 4.725 seat capacity by the end of 2010.
SunExpress’ Performance | ||
| June 2009 | January – June 2009 |
Flights | 3.341 (+14%) | 17.049 (+31%) |
Block hours | 8.241 (+9%) | 41.137 (+21%). |
Passengers | 483.136 (%19%) | 2.382.804 (+34%) |
Seat load factor | %79, 7 (+4, 4%p) | 76, 8% (+1, 8%) |
Revenue (mio €) | 40.8 (-2, 4%) | 182.8 (+12, 1%) |
SunExpress purchases 6 new 737-800 from Boeing
SunExpress, a joint venture of Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa, signed a purchase agreement with Boeing for 6 new 737-800s.
6 July 2009 - SunExpress, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2009, had announced intent to purchase for 3 Boeing 737-800s back in May 8th, 2009. With this order, SunExpress not only confirmed that but it also added 3 more a/c to its order book. SunExpress’ new Boeing 737-800s will be delivered in 2010. SunExpress currently operates an all Boeing fleet of 20. By the end of 2010, the company will return its 3 B757-200s; lease 2 more B737-800 thus reaching a fleet of 25 Boeing 737-800s and 4.725 seat capacity.
SunExpress’ Managing Director Paul Schwaiger said “We are proud and grateful to our shareholders Turkish Airlines (THY) and Lufthansa for supporting us in adding new aircraft to our fleet via direct purchase. This new 6 Boeing 737-800s will become great assets for our company while growing in domestic and international markets. The 737’s stellar reputation for highly environmental friendliness and superior efficiency fits excellent to our business requirements.” SunExpress Deputy Managing Director Hacı Say added “With our 20 years of experience and established operations, we serve both at tourism and seat-only business segments at international flights, offer the widest regional network next to THY at domestic flights. This order shows our confidence to the future of our business. Like the rest of our fleet, the new 737-800s will be equipped by Blended Winglets which reduce fuel consumption and improve environmental performance.” Aldo Basile, vice president Sales, Europe and Russia, Boeing Commercial Airplanes told “SunExpress has capitalized on the traffic growth to, from and domestically in Turkey with the most reliable and efficient single-aisle airplane in the industry, the Next-Generation 737”.
Boeing 737 is the worlds most popular and reliable commercial jet transport. Since its launch the 737 family has won orders for more than 6,000 airplanes. Earlier this year, Boeing announced performance changes to the Next-Generation 737 that will reduce fuel consumption by 2 percent by 2011 through a combination of airframe and engine improvements. Airplane structural improvements will reduce drag on the airplane, reducing fuel use by about 1 percent. Boeing’s engine partner, CFM, is contributing the other 1 percent fuel savings through hardware changes to its engine.
SunExpress purchases aircraft and renews fleet in its 20th year
Founded in 1989 by a joint venture of Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa, SunExpress enters to its 20th year announcing its growth plans following the Board of Directors meeting held in İzmir on 8th of May.
8 May 2009 - SunExpress announced that it will add 8 more 737-800s to its fleet, 3 of which will be direct purchase from Boeing. SunExpress also announced its operational results for the first 4 months of 2009 and reported 45.25% increase at the number of its passengers from 1 million to 1,45 million. The company improved its revenue by 21% to 102.1 million Euro and its total flight hours by 30% to 24.984 compared to the same period of 2008.
At a press conference organized in İzmir, Chairman of SunExpress and Turkish Airlines Dr. Candan Karlıtekin said “SunExpress is a strategic joint venture of THY and Lufthansa, and we are proud to see it maintains its competitive position in every market it operates and sustains growth the changing trends in our industry. We are more than confident that SunExpress team will create further success stories in the future.”
SunExpress Vice Chairman and Lufthansa Executive Board Member Stefan Lauer told that, “We established SunExpress together with THY in 1989 with a great enthusiasm. Since then, it is with great pleasure to observe SunExpress setting further and challenging targets. I sincerely celebrate SunExpress team for offering high quality, safety and service standards during their unbeatable growth journey through the last 20 years.”
SunExpress Managing Director Paul Schwaiger stated that,”On the eve of our 20th anniversary, our board of directors authorized SunExpress to increase the number of a/c from 20 to 25 by the end of 2010. Following this decision, we will purchase 3 Boeing 737-800s for delivery due late 2010 and phase out our current 757-200s. We will also lease 5 more Boeing 737-800s and by the end of 2010, we will have a single type fleet of 25 aircraft increasing our capacity to 4,725 seats and making SunExpress’ fleet one of Turkey’s youngest and most efficient.”
SunExpress Deputy Managing Director Hacı Say said “We started our 20th year events in İzmir, because this city represents a significant milestone for our company. We started our second home base and domestic flights from here. SunExpress, within its brief history of 3 years of presence in İzmir, sustained its leadership position in the international market with 51.
SunExpress makes a great start to Istanbul flights, decides to increase the number of its aircraft to 25 in 2 years
09 April 2009 - Adding Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen to its domestic and international flights bases after Antalya and Izmir, SunExpress achieved the most successful start to a new flight operation.
Obtaining more than 70% seat load factor at the first day of its Sabiha Gokcen flights, SunExpress also decided to increase the number of its aircraft to 25 until 2010. SunExpress organized a celebration festival on the honor of its Istanbul flights.
At his speech during the celebrations, Paul Schwaiger, Managing Director of SunExpress said, “Today, we are proud to take delivery of our 3rd new Boeing 737-800, flying to Istanbul straight from Boeing’s factory. While we have one more new aircraft to be delivered next month, I am happy to announce that our board authorized the company to add up to 8 more aircraft to the fleet in order to support our growth strategy.” Deputy Managing Director of the company, Hacı Say said, “We are grateful to Turkish Airlines for the great support they provided us for the start of our Sabiha Gokcen operations. We knew that Sabiha Gokcen Airport had a huge potential. Our expectation came out true; we performed the best new line opening of our company history and achieved more than 70% seat load factor on the first day of operation.”
Stating that SunExpress came to Sabiha Gokcen market to become the leader of its segment, Candan Karlıtekin, Chairman of SunExpress said; “SunExpress, a successful partnership of THY and Lufthansa will bring dynamism to Istanbul’s Asian side. Our company will create a serious competition by delivering its international safety standards and service quality at transparent and reliable prices to Sabiha Gokcen passengers. The board of SunExpress fully supports this operation and we are confident that SunExpress team will achieve another success story.” SunExpress’ Vice-Chairman and Lufthansa’s member of the board Stefan Lauer said, “Lufthansa has a longstanding excellent relation with Turkey. Together with THY we established SunExpress 18 years ago. We are very happy about our investments in Turkey and we are proud of SunExpress’ success. Furthermore we are happy to strengthen our cooperation with THY, the new partner of Star Alliance.”
SunExpress started to its Sabiha Gokcen flights by March 30th. The routes include Adana, Antalya, Diyarbakır, Erzurum, Kars, Sivas, Trabzon and Van at domestic and Berlin, Cologne and Hanover at international flights. The company bases 2 of its newest Boeing 737-800s that were delivered at the past couple of months to perform these flights¬.
About the festival
More than 600 guests from Germany and the cities SunExpress flies from Sabiha Gokcen participated to the celebrations. SunExpress organized 3 special flights to bring the guests to the festival in which every city promoted its local cuisine and culture. SunExpress broke a new ground and flew its Istanbul based guests from Atatürk Airport to Sabiha Gokcen at 18 minutes. 2 of SunExpress’ newest aircraft were the center of the celebrations in which a team of 95 people performed local dance shows and The Golden Trombone Orchestra took the stage. Demet Tuncer was the master of the ceremony of the whole event.
SunExpress Starts Flying Between Izmir and Gaziantep
2006 - Achieving over 80% load factor in domestic lines - The first airline company to have direct flights from İzmir to Anatolia, SunExpress added a new route to its schedule and started to operate direct flights between İzmir and Gaziantep 3 times a week. Tour operators and important businessmen from İzmir and around also joined to the first İzmir-Gaziantep flight.
Speaking at the press conference held at Gaziantep,"Our strategy to choose İzmir as a base for our domestic operations have proved itself right' said Paul Schwaiger, Managing Director of SunExpress. Schwaiger told that they were highly excited to connect Gaziantep residents to İzmir. Schwaiger also released the performance numbers of SunExpress during the first seven months 2006 and stated that the company grew by one third compared to same period last year. Schwaiger said, "Despite a decline in tourism to Turkey, we managed to carry more than 1,2 million passengers which is 33% more than last year and improved our revenue by 26% to 128,2 million Euro."
Hacı Say, Deputy Managing Director of SunExpress made a presentation at the conference reminding that SunExpress started to its domestic flights at March 26, 2006. He said, "When we evaluate the period between the end of March and the end of July, we see that our seat load factor climbed over 80% in only 4 months. Say also added, "By the end of last year, we had foreseen that the Anatolian cities had reached to enough economic adequacy to support direct flights between each other without the need for a connection at Istanbul or Ankara. The high load factors we achieved not only proved us right but also helped us to open new routes. Today, we are extremely happy to connect Gaziantep, Turkey´s 6th biggest city to İzmir and to Aegean Region with our direct flights. We are confident that Gaziantep residents, who have 10 companies at the first 500 companies of Turkey, will create more business and tourism potential with the help of these direct flights"
Tour operators and businessmen from İzmir came together with their colleagues in Gaziantep by joining SunExpress´ first flight. Aegean Region Chamber of Industry (EBSO) Chairman Tamer Taşkın visited Gaziantep Chamber of Industry Chairman Nejat Koçer.