Early morning sunlight cuts across residential housing that stretches to the horizon of Istanbul's skyline in Turkey June 13, 2018. REUTERS/Russell Boyce

ISTANBUL, March 15 (Reuters) - SunExpress, a joint venture between Turkish Airlines (THYAO.IS) and Lufthansa (LHAG.DE), will ramp up capacity to record levels this summer as European demand for flights to Turkey rebounds, its CEO said.

Focused on Turkey's Mediterranean and Aegean resorts, the carrier expects 9.1 million passengers this year, up more than 50% from 2021, Chief Executive Max Kownatzki said at a news conference in Istanbul.

Antalya-based SunExpress offers flights mainly between Turkey and European countries and carried 6 million passengers last year, with a 75% load factor.

Kownatzki said this year would approach the pre-pandemic passenger numbers of 2019, and that the company would add 25 new routes and 16,250 flights.

"The outlook despite COVID and despite the Russian invasion of Ukraine is very positive," he said.

"The tourist demand continues to be strong as the summer season approaches. In 2022, we aim to increase our capacity beyond 2019 pre-pandemic levels to coastal cities" including Antalya, Izmir, Dalaman and Bodrum," Kownatzki said.

Turkey, facing soaring inflation and currency depreciation, is aiming for $34.5 billion in tourism revenue this year. read more

But Russia's invasion of Ukraine could have an impact on tourism as Russians and Ukrainians are the country's first and third biggest respective sources of visitors, based on Turkey's tourism ministry data.

SunExpress' deputy general manager, Ahmet Caliskan, said bookings from Europe remained strong but had softened due to the invasion.

"Bookings from European operators and tourism agents were 30% above 2019 levels before the invasion. Now they are still 20% above 2019 levels. We see some negative impact but it is still promising," said Caliskan.

SunExpress does not have flights between Turkey and Russia or Ukraine.

Reporting by Ceyda Caglayan; Editing by Ece Toksabay and Jane Merriman

Source: Reuters

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