TURKEY: SunExpress Looks Forward To New Markets

SunExpress, a joint venture company of Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa, has said it broke another revenue record in 2015, adding that 2016 would be a year for seeking new markets in a written statement on March 2.

SunExpress recorded revenues of 1.1 billion euros in 2015, a 9 percent increase from the previous year. SunExpress, which recently confirmed 10 optional Boeing 737-800 MAX as firm orders, placed another order for additional 10 Boeing 737- 800 MAX options.

“As a result of our growth strategy that has been successfully implemented during the last four years, we have continuously broken our own best revenue records during the last three years and have exceeded our target set for 2015,” stated SunExpress Managing Director Jaan Albrecht.

“In 2015 we transported 8.7 million passengers, which is a 19.2 percent increase compared to the previous year and our seat load factor totaled 85 percent,” said Albrecht.

Though SunExpress, together with its subsidiary SunExpress Deutschland based in Frankfurt, is already serving 110 cities in Turkey and abroad, mostly in Europe, the Red Sea, Spain’s Canary Islands, Greece, Tunisia, Bulgaria and Oman, Albrecht said the company was seeking new markets.

“Bookings to Turkey from European tourists are running behind last year´s, but we are optimistic that tourism will recover during the summer season. This does not prevent us, however, from seeking new markets. We are currently in touch with developing markets in eastern countries such as Iran and Kuwait,” he noted.

“Recently we made an agreement for flights to Iran. This summer beginning at Nevruz, we will start transporting tourism passengers from Tehran to İzmir, Antalya and Istanbul. Initially, these flights will be full charter; however, depending on the success of these flights we may start operating scheduled flights,” he added.