British passengers onboard a SunExpress flight to Turkey consumed all the alcohol supply of the plane within half an hour into their 4-hour flight, The Independent reported. It was still unclear that the Turkish-German airline based in Antalya took off from which airport. Besides, it wasn’t reported the date and time of the flight as well as the number of passengers travelling.
SunExpress CEO Max Kowanatzki described the British passengers as “more high-spend, more hedonistic” than travellers from other countries. Giving details about the incident, Kowanatzki said, “We sold out of beer and wine 25 minutes after departure; we haven’t done that in any other market.”
Founded as a joint venture between Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines in 1989, SunExpress was named the Best Leisure Airline in Europe in 2023. Since 2022, the airline has been expanding its operations in Europe with the number of airports growing from 5 to 9.
Kowanatzki said, “Before that, we had some select routes, but nothing major. We are now number three behind Jet2.com and easyJet. We needed to venture further in terms of our network – that made us look at the UK.”
It is the second instance in a month when SunExpress has found itself in a weird situation because of its passengers. Earlier on 9th April, flight XQ505 from the UK to Turkey was forced to divert to Belgrade, for an emergency landing after a passenger caused a disruption. After the emergency landing, the ‘unruly passenger’ was arrested.
