Taking all the necessary measures to provide passengers and crew with healthy and safe flight experience, SunExpress gradually started international flights as of June 10 with special permission granted by the civil aviation authorities. SunExpress has become the first airline to restart international flights from Ankara, Antalya, and Izmir with its flights from Ankara to Düsseldorf (XQ794), from Antalya to Hamburg (XQ170), from Izmir to Zurich (XQ960).
SunExpress, which is the backbone of Turkish tourism by building an air bridge between Turkey and Europe since 1989, operated a total of 38 flights between Turkey and Europe on the first day; 18 flights between Izmir and 9 European destinations, 14 flights between Antalya and 7 German cities and 6 flights between Ankara and 3 German cities.
SunExpress will announce its expanded international flight plan in the coming days depending on the countries lifting their travel bans. The airline’s current international flights are as follows:
SunExpress offers multiple weekly flights from Antalya to Cologne, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart and Berlin in Germany and also operates three weekly flights to Amsterdam, two weekly flights to Brussels and one weekly flight to Paris and Copenhagen.
SunExpress connects Izmir to Dusseldorf, Cologne, Frankfurt, Munich and Stuttgart with daily flights, to Berlin with five weekly flights and to Hamburg and Hanover with three weekly flights. The airline’s current weekly flight plan to other European cities from Izmir is as follows: four weekly flights to Zurich, three weekly flights to Amsterdam, two weekly flights to Brussels and Vienna, and one weekly flights to Paris, Copenhagen and Stockholm.
The airline offering the most connections between Anatolia and Europe, SunExpress has restarted to fly from 11 Anatolian cities including Adana, Kayseri, Diyarbakir, Ankara, Elazığ, Gaziantep, Konya, Malatya, Ordu-Giresun, Samsun and Trabzon to Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Hannover in Germany. The airline also operates flights to many European cities such as Amsterdam and Brussels, as well as daily flights between Ankara and Munich.
Due to travel restrictions in place in European countries, these flights are available for only Turkish citizens who have a residence permit, work permit or type D passport for family reunion purposes as well as EU citizens.
New safety measures for Covid-19
SunExpress advises its passengers to arrive at the airport three hours prior to their departure because of hygiene and social distancing rules that are being applied at airports. The airline has taken all necessary measures to provide passengers and crew with a healthy and safe flight experience in close cooperation with the national and international health and aviation authorities.
Wearing face masks is obligatory on board all SunExpress flights. The airline has also updated its in-flight services in a way to reduce contact. While the limited service will only be available for those on flights longer than two hours, SunExpress will no longer serve food and beverages on flights under two hours. According to directives from the relevant authorities, the airline will not accept any cabin baggage on board except essential items such as laptops, handbags, briefcases or baby items. SunExpress will also distribute disinfectant wipes to its passengers on all flights.
In addition, disinfection procedures approved by the international authorities are being carried out regularly on all aircraft in the SunExpress fleet. Each aircraft has the High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filtering system that is also used in hospital operating rooms. These filters, which have a 99,9 percent success rate against all known viruses including coronavirus, refresh the air every three minutes from top to bottom during the flight.
Within the scope of the “Hayat Eve Sığar” program implemented by the Turkish Ministry of Health, it will be mandatory for all passengers booked on domestic flights to have a HES code during the Covid-19 pandemic or until further notice. Passengers who are not approved by the Ministry of Health for travel will not be permitted to fly.
