To expand operations in the Dutch market, the Swiss-German investment fund Triton has acquired a majority stake in the Netherlands-based Turkish group Corendon Holding's subsidiaries Corendon Netherlands, Corendon Belgium and Corendon Dutch Airlines.
Triton will merge the group with Sunweb, another Netherlands-based tour company it bought in February 2019. Corendon Tourism Group Chairman Yıldıray Karaer announced that they would have a 6% share of the new merged company. Emphasizing that they will invest the sales revenue in tourism again, Karaer said, "We have transferred our Dutch companies to the Triton Fund. However, we will continue in hotel and airline industries. We have three airline companies, with the largest being Corendon Airlines Turkey. The smallest one was that in the Netherlands. We will invest the sales revenues in Turkish airline companies." Indicating that they have 20 aircrafts currently, Karaer noted that they aim to increase that number to 30 in the next five years.
Indicating that they continue to invest in hotels, Karaer said that they have Corendon-brand hotels in Lara, Kemer, Bodrum, Çeşme, Amsterdam and Ibiza, Spain, with one continuing on Curaçao Island in the Caribbean. Pointing out that they eye overseas opportunities, Karaer said that they also plan to make hotel investments in Turkey. He concluded that their incoming operations in Turkey would continue with the Corendon Touristic brand.
The group began travel operations with a direct sales agency and golf tour operator in the Netherlands in 1997. Operations expanded with Travel Contact and Spirit Travel and launched cooperation with travel agencies in the Netherlands and Belgium. In 2019, Corendon became one of the three largest tour operations in the Netherlands and Belgium, becoming a highly preferred brand.
Approximately 750,000 people used services offered by Corendon Tour Operators, which generated a turnover of 515 million euros ($581.2 million), the company statement said.
Corendon Airlines Turkey started airline operations in 2005 and formed the Dutch-flagged airlines Corendon Netherlands in 2011, adding flight destinations apart from Turkey into its network. With the establishment of Corendon Netherlands, the number of countries for which the group organizes package tours has reached 20. Moreover, Corendon Airlines set up Maltese-flagged Corendon Europe in 2017. The group operates with three carriers and has a fleet of 25 aircraft.
