New Route of the Day (29 August 2023): SunExpress between Izmir and Edinburgh
SunExpress introduced seasonal flights between Izmir, on Turkiye’s west coast, and Edinburgh on Tuesday 29 August. The 2,990-kilometre service will be maintained weekly until 24 October with the 189-seat 737-800 aircraft. It will compete directly against Jet2.com’s weekly flight.
Flight XQ832 departs Izmir at 15:30 local time, arriving in Edinburgh at 18:10 local time. The return service, operating as flight XQ833, takes off from the Scottish airport at 19:10 local time, arriving back in Turkiye at 01:30 the following morning.
What they said
Peter Glade, Chief Commercial Officer at SunExpress, said: “Everyone that has had enough of the dreich weather back home will benefit from our enhanced connections for a well-deserved summer extension in beautiful Izmir. Swimming and beach weather until the end of October, an excellent cuisine as well as an unbeatable value for money ratio make for an unforgettable getaway next summer.”
Kate Sherry, Aviation Director at Edinburgh Airport, said: “We’re looking forward to working with SunExpress on delivering this route, and giving passengers more opportunity to visit the beautiful city of Izmir.”
SunExpress to further grow Edinburgh operations in 2024
SunExpress, a joint venture between Star Alliance partners Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines, already serves Edinburgh with 5-weekly year-round Antalya flights. Izmir becomes its second route to the Scottish city. Based on Cirium schedules data, SunExpress will boast six-weekly departures from Edinburgh this September offering 1,124 seats in each direction.
The airline plans to add a 2-weekly service from Dalaman starting 1 April 2024.
UK is SunExpress’ third largest market
The UK is SunExpress’ biggest country market after Germany and Switzerland. In addition to Edinburgh, it maintains flights to Birmingham, Bristol, London LGW, London LTN, Manchester and Newcastle, with all but Newcastle having more than one route from Turkiye operated by the airline. This August, SunExpress is maintaining 71-weekly flights to the UK market.
During S23, SunExpress increased its UK capacity by 70%. However, despite the strong growth, it ranks only fifth out of 10 carriers in the market. Jet2.com leads the way with 186 weekly flights, followed by Turkish Airlines (141), easyJet (134) and TUI Airways (108). However, it is bigger than Pegasus Airlines (67), British Airways (44), Corendon (32), Wizz Air (26) and Freebird Airlines (nine).
