After Germanwings and the airline Walter, another German airline, SunExpress Deutschland, will disappear permanently. The holiday airline, half of which is owned by Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines, will be closed and liquidated. Around 1.200 employees are affected.

SunExpress Deutschland recently flew the Airbus A330 on behalf of Eurowings. This is now to take over selected routes together with other Lufthansa group airlines. According to a company announcement, the German-Turkish holiday airline will not be continued and will therefore be wound up. The Turkish sister company, which also operates under the name SunExpress, is not affected. This should be continued according to the current declarations.

The previous flight offer from SunExpress Deutschland is partly taken over by the Turkish sister company, Eurowings, but also by other airlines in the Lufthansa Group. Due to the still tough entry regulations, it is to be expected that not every connection that was previously served by the German-Turkish holiday airline will actually be continued.

The approximately 1.200 employees of SunExpress Germany are now threatened with unemployment, because there is currently virtually no demand for airline personnel in the industry. So it should be very difficult for those affected to find a new job at short notice. As early as March and April, the vacation airline parted ways with around 150 employees who are hired by a temporary employment agency. With the announced closure and liquidation of SunExpress Deutschland and the discontinuation of Germanwings confirmed a few weeks ago, the Lufthansa Group is further reducing the number of flight operations. The airline Walter was briefly owned by the crane, but was sold to Zeitfracht in the previous year. LGW had to file for bankruptcy on April 22, 2020 and will also be liquidated.

“The strategically correct decision to focus exclusively on our core business is at the same time bitter. For all those affected, this is sad news that only came after a comprehensive and intensive assessment of the situation. At the same time, however, this represents an important step into the future in order to maintain SunExpress' market position in the crisis and emerge stronger from the crisis. We take responsibility for our nearly 1.200 affected employees by working out possible solutions in trusting discussions with our employees and social partners in the coming weeks. We have found solutions for our passengers and will carry out the majority of the canceled flights with the Turkish SunExpress and other airline partners such as Eurowings ”, says Max Kownatzki, Chief Executive Officer of SunExpress. “With a concentrated route network, a consolidated fleet and a combined flight operation, we ensure the competitiveness and future viability of the airline and remain a strong and reliable partner for travel agencies, tour operators and our direct customers. We believe in a strong comeback of tourism in Turkey and in the strong, grown relationships between Germany, Europe and Turkey. In the next few weeks we will continue to expand our flight plan as needed ”