Corendon Airlines and Sunexpress are competing fiercely for the favor of passengers and tour operators in the Germany-Turkey segment, especially from Germany. They are also active in this segment from numerous other countries. Their business models are comparable, but what are the differences?
The roots of both companies lie in the traditional charter business. Sunexpress was founded in the late 1980s as a joint charter airline between Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines. The joint venture still exists today, but the business model changed long ago. Sunexpress now only operates charter flights in exceptional cases, as it says it flies almost exclusively scheduled flights. Tour operators also book their customers on these. For several years, the company also had a subsidiary called Sunexpress Germany with a German AOC, but this was closed and dissolved in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Corendon was also a charter airline
Corendon also initially started in the charter business, but has also been pushing into individual seat sales for several years. The Sunexpress brand is definitely better known in German-speaking countries and better positioned in terms of direct sales than its challenger, which is owned by two businessmen. However, in addition to the Turkish AOC, the company also operates two airlines with EU certificates: the Maltese Corendon Airlines Europe and the Dutch Corendon Dutch Airlines. This circumstance is a competitive advantage over Sunexpress, as EU AOCs enable it to operate numerous routes from the European Union on its own. Sunexpress must rely on cooperation partners for this. For example, it works with Electra Airways on the Germany-Bulgaria route and relies on Air Cairo for its Germany-Egypt flights.
The basic principle of Sunexpress and Corendon is absolutely comparable, as both companies explicitly position themselves as holiday carriers, i.e., as leisure airlines. Their fare systems are geared to the needs of holidaymakers. The onboard services are also not particularly exciting, as one cannot expect much from either airline. The goal is to bring as many holidaymakers as possible to the seaside as cheaply as possible and back home safely. The route networks also have the side effect that both Corendon and Sunexpress can rely on a not insignificant share of visitors from their home country, the so-called visiting friends and relatives. This segment generates the most direct bookings, as this customer group almost never requires a hotel at their destination. While the proportion of individual travelers is growing rapidly for both companies, the lion's share of bookings are made through tour operators as part of package tours.
The lion's share of bookings through tour operators
The fare systems for individual seat sales are similar, but there are some significant differences. Sunexpress requires advance online check-in for most booking classes, otherwise a fee will be charged at the counter. This is excepted for connections within Turkey. Corendon charges nothing extra for traditional counter check-in, but also offers reduced fares that are at least comparable to those of its competitor. Due to the fact that the vast majority of passengers of both companies book through tour operators, it is not particularly useful to compare the individual seat fare classes in detail, which are constantly changing anyway – and usually to the detriment of the passengers. For tour operator bookings and fully chartered flights, the terms and conditions agreed between the tour operator and the airline apply. This is also the reason why it is not uncommon for the tour operator's booking confirmation to state baggage allowances that cannot be found in this form on the respective airline's website. Sunexpress explains: "SunExpress does not negotiate bilateral fare packages with tour operators or travel agencies. Tour operators from German-speaking countries typically book the "SunValue" fare for their customers with SunExpress – this includes, for example, 20 kg of free baggage – exactly the same amount as shown on the SunExpress website and can also be booked directly. The fare packages are carefully tailored to the individual needs of the customers and offer a wide selection of different options for free baggage, seat reservations, check-in, and rebooking options."
Snacks and drinks cost extra
Both Sunexpress and Corendon offer buy-on-board catering on their short- and medium-haul flights. Pure charter flights may be exempt from this, provided the tour operator orders included drinks and snacks for its passengers. This has also become very rare these days, as it costs money, and tour operators also know that package holidaymakers' expectations are not particularly high. Both airlines also offer their travelers the option of pre-ordering their preferred meals according to their respective packages. "SunExpress sees itself as a value carrier with a wide range of options and customized additional services. In addition to priority packages with priority check-in, boarding, and baggage claim, this also includes the option of booking meals in advance upon request. Buy-on-board catering is also available to passengers," said a spokeswoman for Sunexpress Airlines.
The pure flight product is therefore completely comparable. Both the airlines of the Corendon Group and Sunexpress fly passengers from airports in Western Europe to holiday resorts. In summer, the focus of the route networks is on destinations in Turkey, such as Antalya and Izmir. Corendon also serves some airports where it is the only provider in Germany alongside Ryanair. Overall, however, Sunexpress has more German airports in its route network. In addition to large airports such as Amsterdam, Corendon also explicitly relies on smaller airports in the regions. There, unless Freebird and/or Pegasus or Turkish Airlines are also operating, there is significantly less competition, but demand for flights to Turkey is still there. In recent years, Corendon Airlines Europe has increasingly expanded from German regional airports to Greece and Egypt. This is made possible by both the Dutch and Maltese AOCs. Sunexpress also has smaller airports in Germany such as Erfurt, Dresden, Saarbrücken, Paderborn and Münster/Osnabrück in its portfolio.
Corendon Dutch also offers long-haul flights
The Curaçao flights offered by Corendon Dutch Airlines from Amsterdam-Schiphol are unique. Since the Corendon Group operates Boeing 737NG and 737 Max aircraft in its own fleet, it does not have a suitable aircraft for this connection. World2Fly has been operating an Airbus A350 on this route for some time now. This is currently the Corendon Group's only long-haul connection. According to management, it is enjoying high utilization.
Sunexpress was also active in long-haul routes in the past. The now-defunct German subsidiary operated Airbus A330 aircraft for Eurowings for several years. The Lufthansa low-cost subsidiary has completely abandoned the long-haul business. Discover Airlines was launched as a replacement, but both the business model and the route network are not comparable.
Is Sunexpress or Corendon Airlines the better choice for a holiday flight? This question simply cannot be answered in general terms, as there are hardly any differences in the flight product itself; it is simply transport from A to B. Many additional services, such as snacks and drinks on board, are subject to a charge. There are also no differences in the fleet used, as both companies rely on Boeing 737NG and 737-Max. However, both airline groups operate wet-lease operations, colloquially known as sub-charters, during peak season. Depending on the "partner," there can be significant differences in the condition of the cabin and the type of aircraft. With Corendon, the proportion of wet-lease operations during peak season is considerably higher in direct comparison with Sunexpress, so the probability of flying with a different airline than booked is much higher. "SunExpress operates the vast majority of its flights itself. The proportion of flights operated by a partner via wet lease is less than 5%. SunExpress carefully selects these partners from a pool of professional ACMI providers. Incidentally, SunExpress has also deployed its own cabin crews on wet lease flights in the past. SunExpress uses ACMI to meet the high customer demand for holiday flights in the summer," a spokeswoman describes the situation at competitor SunExpress.
Conclusion: Please do not have high expectations
If you don't have particularly high expectations for your flight, both Corendon and Sunexpress are equally good choices. They are leisure airlines, not ultra-luxury carriers. This should be clear when booking. Whether Sunexpress or Corendon is on the fuselage doesn't really make a significant difference, aside from minor fare differences (e.g., counter check-in is subject to a fee). Neither carrier participates in the frequent flyer programs of major corporations, such as Miles&More, but instead operates its own customer loyalty programs.
It's worth noting that both Corendon Airlines and Sunexpress make a significant distinction on board whether snacks and drinks are paid for with cash or by card. With the former, such purchases are on average one euro cheaper when paying cashlessly, and Sunexpress states on its menu that they offer discounts of up to 20 percent when paying with a debit or credit card. While it's certainly not possible to completely do without cash in the leisure flight segment, they clearly want to make paying cashless more attractive to customers...
