Turkish Airlines (THY) dismissed on Wednesday reports on alleged negotiations to acquire shares of SunExpress, which is its joint venture with German Lufthansa Group.
"News in various media outlets claiming that our partnership is in negotiations to acquire all shares of Güneş Ekspress Havacılık A.Ş. ("SunExpress"), in which our partnership holds a 50% stake, is untrue," the carrier said in a statement at Public Disclosure Platform (KAP).
"SunExpress successfully continues its operations under the partnership of Turkish Airlines Inc. and Lufthansa A.G., and there is no change in the partnership structure," it added.
Turkish and Italian media reports, earlier this week, claimed THY was reportedly seeking full ownership of SunExpress by acquiring the 50% stake currently held by Lufthansa.
The company had earlier this year already acquired a minority stake in Spain's Air Europa and its chairperson, in an interview on Wednesday, suggested that the carrier is looking into opportunities in Asia, North and South America, as well as other regions.
SunExpress is headquartered in Türkiye's tourism hub, Antalya. It's another key hub is Izmir on Türkiye’s Aegean coast and the company’s second headquarters is located in Germany's Frankfurt.
The revenue of SunExpress hit a record 2.2 billion euros (around $2.5 billion at the time) in 2024. The airline carried almost 15 million passengers last year with a load factor of 86%.
