Leisure carrier SunExpress considered launching more UK services but opted not to because of the uncertainty over traffic rights created by the country's impending departure from the European Union.
Speaking at Routes Europe in Bilbao on 23 April, the airline's head of network planning Wilken Bellmann said "opportunities are being shoved away" because of complications around Brexit.
The Lufthansa-Turkish Airlines joint venture has German and Turkish AOCs, Bellmann states, which means "right now we could logically fly, let's say, from the UK to anywhere in Europe".
"When we looked at our network a few years back we were actually contemplating that," he continues. "But I decided not to pursue it, because then [there is the danger that] I build up a route that I’m not allowed to operate at one point, because we don’t know how [Brexit] will play out in the traffic rights situation.
"We are not pursuing options right now which would have benefited travellers, airports and so on, just because of [Brexit]," Bellmann concludes.
SunExpress is operating services to five Turkish destinations from London Luton airport in the summer season, mostly on a twice-weekly basis.
FlightGlobal schedules data shows that the vast majority of the airline's routes are between Germany, Turkey and Egypt.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
