Turkish leisure specialist Corendon Airlines is betting big on its UK schedule for summer 2022. The carrier will operate 41 flights per week from five UK airports to destinations in Turkey and five weekly to the Greek islands. Turkey’s first Boeing 737 MAX operator says it will base one of its aircraft at Dalaman Airport to help boost its schedule.
New services and upped frequencies
While most are still fretting about if there will really be a summer 2021 season in Europe, some are looking ahead to what they hope will be much brighter days one year from now. Leisure specialist Corendon has just released over 500 000 seats to Turkey along with Rhodes and Crete in Greece from the UK for summer 2022.
In addition to existing services from London Gatwick (LGW) and Manchester (MAN), Corendon is adding flights from Glasgow (GLA), Newcastle (NCL), and Birmingham (BHX) to Turkish sun destinations Antalya (AYT) and Dalaman (DLM). Flights will take off twice per week for Dalaman from GLA, NCL, and BHX and four times per week from LGW and MAN.
Antalya will see a slightly higher frequency with three weekly flights from MAN and BHX and two flights per week from GLA and NCL. There will also be a daily service from London Gatwick to Antalya. A total of 41 flights per week are scheduled for Turkey from the UK in summer 2022, the airline says in a statement on its website.
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Flights to the Greek islands will continue to depart solely from London Gatwick and Manchester. Corendon will fly to Rhodes twice weekly and Crete three times a week from both airports.
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Inspired by 2021 booking trends
The airline attributes the expansion of next year’s UK schedule to positive indications from bookings for this year. A spokesperson for the Turkish leisure carrier shared with Travel Daily News that,
“We have continued to see demand increasing to Antalya and Dalaman, from the UK, despite the current challenges faced by our industry. For Summer 2022, Corendon Airlines will base an aircraft at Dalaman Airport, which has allowed us to increase our summer 2022 programme substantially.”
Simple Flying has reached out to Corendon for more detail on its 2022 plans but was yet to receive a response at the time of publication.
Turkey’s first MAX operator
Corendon Airlines operates an all-Boeing 737 fleet of 13 aircraft, having said goodbye to its last Airbus A320s in November 2019. Twelve of its current planes are 737-800s, but the airline also has one Boeing 737 MAX 8. The jet is leased from BOC Aviation and was delivered in May 2018. According to data from Planespotters.net, another three are set to join the fleet before long.
“This delivery represents a number of significant milestones for us, with the aircraft being the first addition of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 to our fleet, the first Boeing 737 MAX 8 to be delivered into Turkey, and our first delivery to Corendon Airlines,” Steven Townend, BOC Aviation’s chief commercial officer for Europe, Americas and Africa, said in a statement at the time.
Subsidiaries Corendon Airlines Europe and Corendon Dutch Airlines are also both all-Boeing 737 operators and are set to take MAXs of their own.
Have you ever flown with Corendon? How much are you looking forward to traveling again, this summer or next? Tell us about it in the comments section.