Since1993, the airline SunExpress has been connecting Saarbrücken Airport with Turkey. To celebrate this 30th anniversary, the two partners had organized a festive event on March 30, 2023 in the airport terminal. Roughly 200 guests had come: partners, travel agencies and tour operators as well as the airport employees. SunExpress was represented by Commercial Director Peter Glade, the airport by its Managing Directors Rita Gindorf-Wagner and Thomas Schuck and the Saarland state government by Economics Minister Jürgen Barke, who is also the Chairman of the airport’s Supervisory Board
Jürgen Barke was impressed: `Sun Express has been a success story at Saarbrücken Airport for 30 years. Even in difficult times, the airline has always stuck to its commitment and has even expanded it in the last few years. The passengers from Saarland and the Greater Region really appreciate the offer.`
Also Peter Glade, Commercial Director of SunExpress, calls the commitment to the SCN over 30 years a success story and adds: `Looking at the date of our founding, you see that our interest in this important catchment area dates back to our beginnings. With the new flight liaison from Saarbrücken to Izmir in the coming summer season, which is part of our company´s largest route network expansion ever, we are further increasing our footprint in Saarland. And who knows where our common journey will take us in the next 30 years – I’m looking forward to it!`
Statistics confirm these statements: With over 6,000 take-offs and landings in all, roughly 830,000 passengers have so far flown from Saarbrücken to Turkey with SunExpress. The highest numbers of passengers were recorded in 2019 with around 57,000 and in 2022 with about 56,000. The connection to Antalya is served throughout the year, this summer even daily. New on the flight schedule is the connection to the Aegean metropolis of Izmir, initially once a week from May 26 and twice a week from the end of June.
Thomas Schuck, Managing Director of the airport, stresses the reliability and punctuality of the airline, which is second to none. `We are particularly pleased that SunExpress meanwhile registers a high utilization of flights all year round. Also many passengers of Turkish origin from Saarland and neighboring France are contributing to this.` Schuck is optimistic about the future: `We are especially glad that SunExpress will provide flights from SCN to Izmir and that we can thus increase the gratifyingly high number of passengers to Turkey.` Schuck expressly thanked the employees: `Without their commitment, the short clearance intervals between flights would not be possible.`
SunExpress, a joint venture of Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa, is a fast-growing holiday airline and much is planned also for the SCN. Once starting with one flight a week, the airline could gradually expand the frequencies to serve the destination Antalya daily this summer. In addition, there is Izmir, the metropolis of the climatically pleasant, up-and-coming Aegean region with up to two flights per week. This also applies to the next winter, when, according to the airline, three weekly flights to Antalya and two weekly flights to Izmir are planned – with prospectively further increases in frequency, as far as possible.
About SunExpress:
SunExpress was founded in 1989 as a joint venture of Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines and is one of the leading providers of charter and holiday flights to Turkey. With its modern Boeing 737 fleet, the holiday specialist currently serves a route network of about 51 international destinations. The airline has been combining Turkish hospitality with German precision for more than 30 years and transports roughly 10 million passengers on board its aircraft every year. SunExpress is a strong partner of Turkish tourism and has already repeatedly been awarded for the service and comfort on board its flights. The carrier scores with a good price-performance ratio and a wide range of innovations and digital services. For more information, please visit www.sunexpress.com.
