SunExpress carried the highest number of tourists to Antalya and İzmir

February 05, 2007
SunExpress carried the highest number of passengers to Antalya and İzmir, the cities to which it operates international flights, in 2006. According to State Airports Authority’s data, SunExpress reached to 12% share in Antalya and 18% share in İzmir and achieved market leadership at both markets in terms of international passengers. In 2006, SunExpress carried a total of 2.358.476 passengers of which approximately 1.9 million were generated from international flights.

Founded by Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa, SunExpress operated scheduled flights from İzmir to Cologne, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hanover, Munich, Nurnberg, Stuttgart, Zurich ve Basel, and from Antalya to Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna and Zurich in 2006. Also operating charter flights mainly to Germany, SunExpress continued its leadership in Antalya market by improving its’ share from 9.49% (2005) to 12% (2006). SunExpress also achieved an 18% share and declared its leadership at İzmir market, where it started its international flights only a year and 2 months ago.

In his statement, SunExpress General Manager Paul Schwaiger said, “We are excited to be able to achieve leadership in both of our primary markets. We believe it’s our mission to carry more tourists to Turkey. The increase in the number of our passengers in 2006 shows that we have been able to achieve this goal.”

Operating with 9 Boeing 737-800 and 4 Boeing 757-200s in its fleet, SunExpress offers 2.604 passenger capacity. The company flies to many Anatolian cities from İzmir and Antalya at domestic routes. SunExpress, which became the first private airline company to operate in international routes back in 2001, also was the first to operate nonstop scheduled flights from İzmir to Anatolia at 2006.