SunExpress Charts Bold Growth Plans
At a recent event in Antalya, Turkey, celebrating the airline’s 35th anniversary, SunExpress CEO Max Kownatzki unveiled the carrier’s impressive performance and ambitious growth projects for 2024 and beyond. As a 50-50 joint venture between Turkish Airlines and the Lufthansa Group, SunExpress has evolved from its charter roots in 1990—flying German tourists to the Turkish Riviera—into a diverse airline carrying over 15 million passengers in 2024.
While traditional tour operators still account for 45% of its revenue, SunExpress is increasingly expanding into new lines of business. The airline is bolstering its scheduled services and geographic reach. One key strategy is leasing aircraft to other operators during the Winter season and partnering with third-party companies to commercialize capacity on routes such as Germany to Egypt and Bulgaria. These initiatives help smooth out seasonal fluctuations and maximize revenue throughout the year.
To support its rapid expansion, SunExpress plans to double its fleet within a decade—from 85 aircraft in 2025 to an ambitious 166 by 2035. In line with this goal, the airline has placed orders for 132 Boeing B737 MAX 8 aircraft. Of these, 87 orders are firm, while the remaining consist of options and purchase rights. Kownatzki also highlighted the potential of the Boeing MAX 10, which the airline intends to configure with 230 seats—up from the current 189 seats on its B737-800 and B737 MAX 8. This increase in capacity would allow SunExpress to extend its network further west to Iceland and east to India.
Despite the promising technical performance, fuel efficiency, and low noise footprint of the MAX aircraft, Kownatzki expressed frustration with Boeing’s delivery delays. Given that SunExpress operates in a highly seasonal market, any delay can have significant consequences. To counter these challenges, the airline has implemented temporary measures such as extending the life of existing leases.
Seasonality remains a top priority for SunExpress. To drive year-round revenue, the airline has introduced a specialized product aimed at the golf market, offering access to premium clubs and related benefits across Turkey. Additionally, SunExpress has teamed up with other tour operators to promote winter sports and outdoor activities, resulting in a notable 90% load factor in November 2024—a remarkable achievement during an off-season period.
Furthermore, SunExpress is optimizing its domestic operations by leasing more than a dozen planes to AJet, the Ankara-based Turkish Airlines subsidiary. The carrier has also tapped into the Southern Hemisphere market with a wet lease arrangement. After a successful initial experiment of damp leasing two B737-800 aircraft to South African Airways during the 2023/24 Winter season, the lease has now doubled to four aircraft.
In the scheduled service segment, growth is evident in the British and Irish markets. Previously focused on the German-speaking regions, SunExpress has expanded its network in the British Isles to 11 destinations, with plans to add at least six new routes in 2025. Many of these new routes will originate from cities in Anatolia, such as Kayseri, Erzurum, and Bursa, linking them to key European markets. Additionally, a new service from Antalya to Queen Alia International Airport in Amman, Jordan, is slated to launch in June 2025.
With increasing competition from carriers like Pegasus Airlines, Kownatzki acknowledges the challenges posed by rising costs and intense market rivalry. Nonetheless, he remains optimistic about SunExpress’s future. “There’s no other way than to keep working on delivering value,” he emphasized, underscoring the airline’s commitment to sustainable growth through fleet modernization, strategic partnerships, and innovative service offerings.
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