SunExpress, a joint venture between Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa, celebrating its 35th anniversary this year, the airline revealed that it carried nearly 15 million passengers in 2024. The carrier announced its target of 16.8 million passengers in 2025, operating a growing fleet of 85 aircraft serving 237 routes across 35 countries.
SunExpress CEO, Max Kownatzki, said “The UK and Ireland market is of vital strategic importance to SunExpress. With continuing demand for Türkiye as a sought-after holiday destination, we have broadened our footprint from five to 13 airports since 2022, working alongside our travel industry partners to deliver increasing choice and value for customers in the UK and Ireland.”
The airline is making significant investments in its UK and Ireland operation as it continues to grow its footprint in the market, its 2nd core source market behind the German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria and Switzerland).
In 2025, SunExpress will offer around 2 million seats in the UK and Ireland market – a 25% increase over 2024. This includes the inauguration of new routes across April and May from Glasgow, Liverpool and Cork, taking the airline’s UK and Ireland footprint to 13 departure airports. Almost half (7) of the 15 new routes being launched by SunExpress this summer are from the UK and Ireland.
Starting in May 2025, SunExpress will introduce its first-ever services from Cork Airport, with a twice-weekly route to Izmir. This move enhances the airline’s already established presence at Dublin Airport, where flights to Antalya and Izmir will run at five and seven weekly frequencies, respectively for summer season.
This reflects a rising appetite in Türkiye not just for sea and sun vacations, but also for cultural, historical, gastronomic, health and sports tourism.
Irish Aviation Research Institute © 5 May 2025 All Rights Reserved
