Who owns SunExpress?
SunExpress is half-owned by Turkish Airlines (Turkey, BIST: THYAO), which has held that half since 1989.[1]
Turkish Airlines owns 50% of SunExpress rather than all of it.
This ownership is reported in official statements but has not yet been matched to a regulatory filing.
Evidence: Turkish Airlines Integrated Annual Report 2025, Türk Hava Yolları A.O. Last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- Türk Hava Yolları A.O. (50% stake) reported
- Owned since
- Owner HQ
- 🇹🇷 Turkey, Istanbul
- Origin
- 🇹🇷 Turkey, Antalya
- Founded
- 1989
- Category
- Travel & transport › Airlines
- Parent ticker
- BIST: THYAO
- Last verified
- · 1 sources
About SunExpress
SunExpress is the leisure airline that Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa established together at Antalya in 1989, and the two still hold it jointly: the shareholding is 50 per cent Turkish Airlines, 49 per cent Lufthansa AG and 1 per cent other shareholders. It is a market leader in holiday traffic between Türkiye and central Europe, carried around 16 million passengers in 2025 with a fleet of 85 aircraft, and has doubled that fleet over the past five years. Turkish Airlines accounts for it as a joint venture rather than consolidating it as a subsidiary.
Ownership timeline of SunExpress
- 1989 – present Turkish Airlines (50%) [1] reported
Where SunExpress sits in Turkish Airlines
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Turkish Airlines ownership tree →
See the full Turkish Airlines brand portfolio (5) →
Other brands owned by Turkish Airlines
Turkish Airlines controls 5 brands on Brandtree, 5 of them in travel & transport.
Also in travel & transport
- AJet (2024)
- Miles&Smiles
- Turkish Airlines (1933)
- Turkish Cargo
Other brands in airlines, and who owns them
The 509 brands in airlines on Brandtree belong to 341 owners. The largest is Lufthansa Group, with 10; Turkish Airlines has 5.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Air Dolomiti | Lufthansa Group | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| China Southern Airlines | China Southern Airlines | 🇨🇳 China |
| Air China | Air China | 🇨🇳 China |
| Aer Lingus | IAG | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom |
| LATAM Airlines Brasil | LATAM | 🇨🇱 Chile |
| Air France | Air France-KLM | 🇫🇷 France |
| AirAsia | AirAsia X | 🇲🇾 Malaysia |
| Calm Air | Exchange Income | 🇨🇦 Canada |
About the owner: Turkish Airlines
Turkish Airlines is a publicly listed company headquartered in Istanbul, Turkey, founded in 1933. Brandtree records 5 brands under its control, and it is listed as BIST: THYAO.
Turkish Airlines is the flag carrier of Türkiye, established in 1933 and listed on Borsa Istanbul, with the Türkiye Wealth Fund holding 49.12 per cent of its shares and the rest in public hands. It ended 2025 with a fleet of 516 aircraft flying to 356 destinations in 132 countries, 92.6 million passengers carried and consolidated revenue above USD 24.1 billion, and employs more than 100,000 people across the parent company and its subsidiaries. Around the airline sit fourteen consolidated subsidiaries and nine joint ventures covering maintenance, catering, ground handling, cargo, payments and low-cost flying, and the group is working to a fleet plan of 1,000 aircraft over the next decade.
Turkish Airlines: full profile, brands and acquisition history →
🇹🇷 SunExpress and other Turkish brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 97 brands that began in Turkey. 11 of them (11%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country; SunExpress is not one of them.
- Aras Kargo — Austrian Post 🇦🇹
- Celebi Aviation — Celebi Aviation 🇹🇷
- Pegasus Airlines — Pegasus Airlines 🇹🇷
- TAV Airports — TAV Airports 🇹🇷
- İDO — İDO 🇹🇷
- Actisoft — BİM 🇹🇷
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of SunExpress?
SunExpress has no sole parent company: it is half-owned by Turkish Airlines, a publicly listed company headquartered in Turkey.
Is SunExpress Turkish?
Yes. SunExpress originated in Turkey in 1989 and its owner, Turkish Airlines, is also headquartered in Turkey.
Since when has Turkish Airlines owned SunExpress?
Turkish Airlines has held half of SunExpress since 1989.
Is SunExpress still owned by Turkish Airlines?
Yes. As of 23 September 2026, SunExpress is still half-owned by Turkish Airlines. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (1) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] Turkish Airlines Integrated Annual Report 2025 — Türk Hava Yolları A.O., Annual report; retrieved 23 September 2026.
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