LJLA to introduce new SunExpress summer route to Türkiye

Liverpool John Lennon Airport (LJLA) has secured a new summer service for next year in SunExpress, a joint venture of Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines, which will launch flights from Liverpool to Antalya in Türkiye in 2025.

The airline will offer three flights a week from LJLA to Antalya next summer, with services starting from April 6.

Bookings open today(May 9) with prices starting from £69.99, including checked baggage.

The new flights mark an expansion of SunExpress’s services from across the UK.

The leisure carrier is currently operating 136 flights per week from nine airports in the UK in summer 2024 (Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Leeds Bradford, London Gatwick, London Luton, Manchester, Newcastle, and London Stansted).

SunExpress offers a range of ticket fare options with the basic SunEco option including at least 20kg of checked baggage on international flights.

For small additional payments, passengers can upgrade to SunClassic and SunPremium fares with added benefits such as increased baggage allowance, pre-flight seat selection, inclusive onboard meal and the ability to amend bookings without extra charge.

Tobias Bracht, Head of Sales for SunExpress, said: “We are thrilled to announce the launch of our exciting new route from Liverpool to Antalya in 2025.

“We are dedicated to offering exceptional value and convenience to our passengers with direct flights and look forward to connecting further airports in the UK with Türkiye.”

Paul Winfield, Aviation Director for LJLA, said: “Antalya remains a popular destination from Liverpool and a route with significant scope to grow when comparing capacity to other UK airports.

“We look forward to seeing SunExpress begin and grow their services in Liverpool, with passengers from across the North West being given the opportunity to fly to popular destinations.”

In addition to ‘summer sun and beach’ travel, SunExpress aims to cater for numerous other types of travel for which Türkiye is popular, including cultural, archaeological and culinary tourism.

SunExpress is a value carrier with a strong presence on the Turkish Riviera and in Anatolia.

It is operating a total of 200 routes to 68 destinations across 35 countries in 2024. SunExpress is the leading carrier between Germany-Austria-Switzerland and the Turkish Riviera and Anatolia.

LJLA’s success in attracting SunExpress to the airport followed the airline’s call in August 2021 for new airport partners as it sought to rebuild its programme following the pandemic.

Liverpool responded by confirming it would pitch for new routes.

Wilken Bellmann, head of network planning and scheduling at SunExpress, said at the time: “We have identified the United Kingdom and Ireland as our next strategic markets that are sizeable enough to support our growing fleet while also fitting our sales and pricing strategy.

“According to our data, it is the third largest market to the destinations we are serving in Turkey and had shown the most consistent and sustainable growth in passenger numbers, before the Covid-19 pandemic.”

A spokesperson for Liverpool John Lennon Airport said they would be following up on the carrier’s request, saying: “Our aviation development team will be following up with SunExpress.”