SunExpress Launches Antalya–Weeze Route: Germany Network to Expand to 19 Cities

SunExpress will expand its flight network in Germany, one of Antalya's most important international source markets, during the summer season of 2027. The airline, a joint venture of Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa, will operate direct flights seven days a week between Antalya and Weeze Airport starting April 23, 2027.

Sales for the new route have already begun through travel agencies, tour operators, and SunExpress channels. With the addition of Weeze, the number of German cities to which SunExpress flies directly from Antalya will increase from 18 to 19.

The significance of this connection in terms of tourism is not just the seven new weekly frequencies. Weeze is located in North Rhine-Westphalia, one of Germany's largest population centers, and close to the Dutch border. Therefore, the potential passenger pool for the route is not limited to German holidaymakers; it also provides an alternative departure point for passengers living in the eastern parts of the Netherlands. The management of Weeze Airport is positioning the new route for both the Niederrhein region and the neighboring Dutch market.

Why is the regional airport strategy important?

When it comes to flights from Germany to Turkey, major hubs like Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Munich, or Berlin come to the forefront. However, regional airports can offer a different advantage for holiday travel: allowing passengers to reach their destination directly from a location closer to their area without having to go to a large hub.

Weeze is one of the clear examples of this.

The airport is located northwest of Düsseldorf and near the Dutch border. Marc Fischer, Head of Network Planning & Scheduling at SunExpress, also states in an official announcement that Weeze serves as a suitable departure point for holidaymakers from the Niederrhein and neighboring Dutch regions.

From a HORECA perspective, such routes can particularly support package holiday demand. Because being able to find direct flights from the area where the passenger lives reduces the total travel time and the need for transfers.

The result for hotels is simple: more direct access from more airports can mean a wider geographical area for sales of the same destination.

Antalya is already strong in Germany; the new route deepens access rather than growth

Germany continues to be one of Turkey's most important tourism source markets.

According to data from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, approximately 3.41 million visitors came from Germany to Turkey between January and July 2026. Germany became the second largest foreign visitor market after Russia, with a share of over 12%. During the same period, Antalya was recorded as one of Turkey's busiest entry points with approximately 7.76 million foreign visitors.

Despite this, the entire European market did not show strong growth in 2026. In the first seven months, Turkey's total number of foreign visitors decreased by 2.29% year-on-year, while the German market remained largely flat. In July, the number of visitors from Germany was approximately 968,000, showing a limited decline year-on-year.

This situation differentiates the importance of the Weeze route.

The new connection is not the first move to enter a large and rapidly growing market. It is a strategy to deepen the access network at the level of smaller geographical areas in one of Turkey's most mature source markets.

SunExpress has been expanding its Germany network for several seasons

Weeze should not be read solely as a route move.

In its 2026 summer program, SunExpress established an operation that offers connections from 23 airports in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland to over 20 points in Turkey. In the 2026 program, Memmingen was added as a new departure point, while new flights were planned from Hannover and Munich to Edremit, and from Düsseldorf to Hatay.

The addition of routes from Köln/Bonn to Trabzon, Çukurova, and Elazığ indicates another customer segment. SunExpress associates these routes not only with classic holiday demand but also with family and relative visit traffic between Germany and Turkey.

For the summer of 2027, there is similar expansion in Dalaman. New connections are being added from Hannover and Leipzig, while frequencies from Düsseldorf and Hamburg are being increased. SunExpress plans to connect Dalaman to 10 airports in Germany and Austria with up to 28 flights per week in the summer of 2027.

Thus, Weeze is part of a broader capacity strategy that spreads from Germany to different tourism regions in Turkey.

A more important data point for hotels than the number of flights: which region is the demand coming from?

When evaluating the impact of the new route on hotels in Antalya, it is not sufficient to look only at the figure "seven flights added per week."

The real question is which customer segments will fill these seats.

Due to Weeze's proximity to the Dutch border, hotels should track not only German customers in their reservation data but also customers with Dutch addresses but departing from Germany.

This distinction can be valuable from a marketing perspective.

For example, the booking channels, average length of stay, family ratio with children, or hotel spending of customers coming from Germany and the Netherlands on the same flight may differ.

Therefore, defining the source market solely based on passport or flight country by the hotel's CRM and revenue management teams may yield incomplete results.

Daily flights create flexibility for package tours

Charter-like connections that operate once or twice a week can constrain accommodation to specific entry-exit days.

The daily nature of the Weeze–Antalya route creates a different advantage.

Guests can choose more flexible accommodation durations without being limited to standard packages of seven or fourteen nights. Tour operators can also more easily create alternative products for three, four, five, or ten days.

This flexibility is particularly important for dynamic packaging and direct bookings.

When a hotel guest wants to arrive on a Tuesday instead of a Friday, having a flight available can facilitate the sale of vacant room nights.

2027 capacity should already be part of the sales strategy

For hotel sales teams in Antalya, the start date of April 23, 2027, is also significant.

The route will start operating before the classic July-August peak. This could mean that demand from the border region of Germany and the Netherlands is supported during shoulder season periods like May and June.

Moreover, SunExpress does not position Antalya solely as a summer product. The airport announcement also highlights golf, culture, nature, and the region's mild climate during the winter months.

For resorts, the opportunity here is not to see the new route merely as additional bed sales during the high season.

Demand can be generated during the periods of April-June and September-October with packages for golf, wellness, sports camps, long-term stays, or adult couples.

Stafflink’s Opinion

In our view, the most valuable aspect of SunExpress's move to Weeze for Antalya is its ability to broaden the geographical reach of the source market before the total number of seats coming from Germany.

Growth in mature tourism markets does not always happen by finding a new country. Sometimes, offering direct flights from an airport closer to the customer's home within the existing country is more effective.

Antalya hotels should not only follow new routes as airline news.

If a new departure point opens, tracking which tour operator is taking capacity, which dates have price advantages, how early reservations come in, and what length of stay the customer prefers can turn flight data into real sales decisions.

The Weeze route with its daily frequency could represent more than just a small addition for Antalya in 2027: a new demand corridor that connects a wide area between Germany and the Netherlands more directly to the Turkish Riviera.